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•’W 





Our Address: Enigma Newsletter 

do 17-21, Chapel StreetJSradford 
West Yorkshire BD1 5DT, ENGLAND 



Via E Mail: 
Via Facsimile; 



MSKEC®PRAXIS.CO.UK 



UK: 

Overseas: + 44 



01274 - 390725 
1274 - 390725 



The monitor Is on to something important. Ears 
and hands register at top speed. Colleagues tune 
in to the same station. The story will be rushed 
through to the editors. 



EUROPEAN NUMBERS INFORMATION GATHERING 
AND MONITORING ASSOCIATION 




ENIGMA is the journal of the European Numbers Information 
Gathering and Monitoring Association. 

ENIGMA is a non-profit making association of listeners who 
monitor and gather information on 'Number Stations* and other 
related r^dio transmissions. ENIGMA aims to bring together 
listeners and enthusiasts and provide quality information on 
subjects not normally available from main— stream publ ications. 






Subscriptions 

4 Copies of ENIGMA - are available for £6.00 ster 1 ing-inc ludes 
postage for the UNITED KINGDOM* 

4 Copies of ENIGMA - are available for £10.00 sterling- 
includes postage for REST OF THE WORLD. 



You may pay by Sterling Cash, US Dollars, Eurocheques or 
American Express cheques (in Sterling) or by UK Cheques or 
Postal Orders payable to MR C A Midgley. 

Contributions 

We appreciate all con tributions to the newsletter (including 
anonymous information). We regret that we are not always able 
to provide a personal reply but, rest assured, we read and 
collate all information for present and future use. Questions 
are answered via our "Letter to ENIGMA" pages. ENIGMA is also 
a discussion forum and we welcome comments about the 
newsletter. If you are interested in writing a feature please 
contact us at the mailing address* 



**JM*^***************************** ************************ ^ 
Ac know 1 edoemen ts 

Information in ENIGMA may be reproduced, but please mention 
ENIGMA and if possible the originator of the article? we would 
appreciate any cuttings in which ENIGMA is mentioned. 



t*%$ttt**t ******%******* ** ****** #***#*#$ ***********$**#* ****** 

NEXT ISSUE. . « We aim to publish the next issue of ENIGMA in 
Mid to late AUGUST 1996. 

Contribution would be appreciated by SATURDAY JULY — 

Thank You. 

I************************************************************* 

C over issue 10 . , 

This issue's cover shows a BBC Monitor hard at work 
from a war-time BBC publicity booklet). 



(Taken 



(Messages for: 






D - 00000 PQ ‘ page 26 321 - Gooahavern 

AR - page 29 



^V- 




2 



\ 

\ 

.5 



Station News and Latest Listening 



Happy Hew fear from ENIGMA. A warm welcome to issue 10. Me hare 
cleared down our files on most stations in order to bring yon only the 
logs received since issue 9. Me look forward to hearing from you soon 
and hope yon will enjoy this issue. 



All times shown are ETC (GMT) Please note that some stations will 
change times for summer, this is noted next to each stations details. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STATIONS (Other a ctiv e stations: // =direct equivalent 

/= family member) 



El) READY READY - Mode AM (Now operating to Summer Time). All times 
listed are ETC. // M17 



Still very active. Transmissions 

minute intervals. 

SUN MK 1 21.30 4740 31 

21.50 4460 31 
22. 10 ? 31 

MON ME 2/3 21.30 4740 32 
21.50 4460 32 
22. 10 4270 32 

MED MK 1/3 19.00 4740 84 
19.20 3910 84 

19.40 3410 84 



repeat on two frequencies at 20 



MON ME 2/4 20.00 4740 04 
20.20 3410 04 

20.40 3910 04 

TUB MK 1/2 19.00 4740 06 

3 19.20 3910 06 

19.40 3410 06 

MED ME 1/2 23.00 5235 13 

4 23.20 4740 13 

23.40 4460 13 



May move to higher frequencies in suasaer, for complete list see M17. 

£3 ) LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER - Mode USB (Stays on UTC) //E4 

Ho major changes, still operating between 10.00 and 22.00 starting on 
the hour for 45 minutes . Jamming continues on a any transmissions . 

Active frequencies (3 in use on each transmission) are - 16475 16084 
15682 14487 13375 12603 11545 10426 9251 8464 7755 7337 6959 6900 
6485 5746 & 5422. Some tests have been reported with the interval 
signal but no messages on 20306 A 19452 . 



J also noticed a report of the station in the US Monitoring Times . 

They reported a transmission at 02.00 on 6959 . LF used to operate at 
this time some years ago. Anyone about at this time ? 

Finally a report on Austrian Radio stated that the contract to use the 
Abis site in Egypt by the US Government was to end in the autumn, it 
was reported that US backed Voice of Human Rights and Freedom for Iran 
was beamed from Abis. In issue 8 we did mention the possibility that 
LF was using this site to beam to the Middle East . 




v 



3 



/ 



S4) CHEER ¥ RIPE - Mad* USB (S&eys mi UTC) //E3 , „*. t . . 

IP's sister station in the Far East, still active between Monday <§ 
Friday . Could any readers in the Far East give us some - Jdea of the 
signal quality ? 



11.00 14469 

12.00 13866 14469 

13.00 13866 14469 17499 



Probably on 3 Frequencies at all times 
but reception is variable in the UK. 



Also known to have used 20474 & 23411 in the past. 



E5 ) COUNTING STATIONS - Mode AM (Stays on UTC) //G5/E14 

Very active in the susmer/autmw period. Transmissions seem to be in 
decline at present and are becoming more erratic. Me have reproduced 
sill reports since lest issue &lthouggh schedules ere JF&irly sho r 
lived. 

15.00 10597 

02.00 5153 

07.00 9070 

12.00 11470 

10597/8014 
10529/7547 



MON 


07.00 


9160 


WED 


16.00 


9070 


FRI 


MON 


13.00 


19975 


MED 


17.00 


6780/8085 




MON 


13.00 


8014/10597 


WED 


18.00 


8143/8143 


SAT 


MOM 


18.00 


8970 


WED 


19.00 


9070 


SAT 


MON 


16.00 


8125/9327 


WED 


20.00 


5850/8143 


SAT 


MON 


19.00 


9219/11491 


WED 


21.00 


8185/10162 


SAT 


MON 


20.00 


5850/8143 








SAT 


MOM 


21.00 


5371/7430 








SAT 

SAT 


TUE 


14.00 


7470/12221 


THE 


07.00 


9070 




TOE 


15.00 


8085/10247 


THE 


15.00 


8085 


SUM 


TUE 


17.00 


3780/8085 


THE 


18.00 


8080//6970 


SUM 


TUE 


20.00 


5885/7430 


THE 


19.00 


5153/7430 


SUM 


TUE 


23.00 


4840 


THE 


18.00 


9219/11491 


SUM 








THE 


20.00 


5850/8143 


SUM 








THE 


21.00 


9185/10182 


SUM 








THE 


21.00 


5371/7430 


SUM 














SUN 



13.00 

13.00 



5850/9160 



07.00 9070 

12.00 12221/7470 

12.00 15822 

13.00 8014/7547 

14.00 7470 

16.00 9070 

17.00 9274 

18.00 11072/13444 

On February 20th at 08.00 the following frequencies were all carrying 
a test tone 5315 5850 6967 8057 8116 9070. Appear to be M5 

frequence es - 

E6 A E7) ENGLISH MEN END ' 00000' & ' 000 OOO' - Mode AN (Stay on UTC) 
//S6 6 S7 Families 

No major changes, the English Man 00000's ending now seems to have a 
new voice which appeared around early March. Very clear presentation. 

715 now seems to have replaced 947 and can be heard at present on - 

TUB 20. 10 5423 



MON 19.10 8864 
20.10 5423 



Other EG 572. , 758, S34, 

£7: 273.495" 



According to a British Government report Just published Russian spying 
activity is on the increase and more agents are now operating in 
Britain than since the end of the cold war. The report stated that 
British Intelligence had had to increase 
take account of this. 



it's own counter measures to 



(K 

V: > 




S9) MAGNETIC FIELDS - Mods AM (Time change not known} //V8 

Transmissions remain erratic and do not always start on time, if at 
all . 

MON 19,00 variable 8845 - subject to +/- 5 Ms 
SAT 09.20 variable 11290 - subject to +/- 5 kHz 

See also station V8, which is related. 

S10) PHONETIC ALPHABET - NATO - Node AM/SSB ( Stays on UTC) 

Still very active, many new frequencies now in use. All logged 
frequencies are reported below. Some frequencies share sore than one 
call « 

2270 JSE 2515 VLB 2743 ULX 2846 YHF 2955 HIM 3090 SIN 3150 PCD 
3270 KPA 3415 ART 3495 MIN 3640 VLB 3840 YHF 3960 VLB 4165 CIO 
4270 PCD 4360 MIN 4560 YHF 4463 FTJ 4630 MIN 4665 SIN 4780 KPA 
4880 ULX 5000 ??? 5092 JSB 5170 CIO 5205 VLB 5230 SIN 5437 ART 
5630 KPA 5715 ZWL 5820 YHF 6370 VLB 6500 PCD 6600 DPA-S/ NDP-A * 

6858 MIN 6745 MIN 6840 EX I 6911 OEM. 

7115 AST 7540 JSR 7805 CIO 8025 CIO 6127 MIN 8465 SIN 6641 CIO 
6745 MIN 9130 EZI 9270 KPA 

10352 VLB 10568 VLB 10648 YHF 10820 SYN 10125 MIN 11565 EZI 
12950 VLB 13190 MIN 13533 EZI 13920 KPA 14750 MIN 14866 VLB 
15016 MIN 17410 EZI 18178 CIO 19715 EZI 

* on March 14 # 20.40 I heard the familiar voice repeating DPA-N 
the transmission may have been NDP-A it was difficult to hear the 
break. I suspect this could be one of the rarer stations like BAY OEM 
ZWL, Q&Z & QPO . 

Richard tells us that one of the E10 stations was using 15016. He 
tells me that the frequency is used world -wide by the USAS, in 
addition Richard heard an aircraft asking the USAF Global stations who 
the YL was, they said they didn 't know. The frequency is no longer in 
use by E10. 



Ell) " OBLIQUE " - Mode AM/SSB (Stays on UTC) //S12//G11/M3. 

Difficult to find this station likes to stay hidden. Also prone to 
sudden frequency changes. 

Two ID's 231 & new 746 are at present active. I would suggest you try 
each week as the scheduling is rather obscure. 

TUB 20.00 4015 - 746 Several messages, one of 111 groups have been 
THU 20.30 3060 - 746 sent for 746. This is almost unknown of for 

the “ Oblique “ station. The groups were read 
FRI 20.30 3060 - 231 in a English with the numbers four and nine 

pronounced as tourer & niner ' ! 

Transmissions for 231 move between 3060 4015 4780 & 5050 depending on 

the time of year. 



c 



S12) MEN - Mode AM (Stays on ETC) /MM 



The Wednesday evening transmission seems to have 

■■+ — and times need re-confirming. Weekly. 



ended. The early 



morning frequencierzjw 

MOM 21.00 4644 (several reports say 4643) 
THE 20.00 5821 
FBI 21.00 4644 



THE 04.00 5821 
FBI 04.00 4573 



S14) 4F 'COUNT CONTROL ' - Mode AM (Stays on ETC ) /E5/G5 

At the time of writing the 4F transmissions which start at hour +30 
seem to have ended. Any reports/cosments appreciated . 

E15) PHONETIC ALPHABET - pre NATO - Mode AM/SS8 (Stays on ETC) 

Reception in England is poor, no major changes other than the use of 
SSB on some transmissions. Most but not all operate a daily schedule. 



11.00 


18000 BEC 


17.30 


5834 


MSA 


12.00 


17503 WSE 


18.00 


5834 


ESP 


12.30 


11170 MSA 


19.00 


4130 


SAR 


13.00 


11000 BEC 


20.00 


5530 


NAS 


14.00 


14000 FTP 


21.00 


4130 


MSA 


18.30 


6715 NAS 









E16) TWO LETTER (ENGLISH) - Mode SSB (Stays on ETC) // G16 

Very little traffic is heard from this station and i ts larger 
language sister station G16. We have had no report station 

transmissions for some time. See Further comments about this station 

under GIB . 

B17) ENGLISH LADY 00000 ENDING - Mode AM ( Stays on ETC) 

The schedules are nothing if not incomprehensible, with fandom 
transmissions at all times of day and night. The only semi 
call-sign heard is 274. This appears occasionally at mromdOB. 00 
between 9270 and 9290 on a Wednesday morning. The old format o, 
sending nil messages to 274 seems to have ended and now only messages 

are sent. 



include MON 01 . 00 


5935 * 


Calling 372 


WED 06.00 


7635 


Calling ??? 


WED 07.00 


7834 


Call unknown but had same group 
count as later '274 messages. 


WEB 20.00 


10680 


Calling 893 


SAT 04.15 


6810 * 


Calling 657 


SUN 19.00 


4445 


Calling 168 



Tht» In&s marked * were made in Kansas* United States of America. I 

ToCtion ot Kansas City ohich is virtually in the centra of forth 
America. 



r 



mmm lm&iimr x 

V 

G2//H4) SWEDISH RHAPSODY - Mode AM/SSB/MCW (Stays on UTC) 



MEEK ONE BEGINS CM THE FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH . SEASONAL 
FREQUENCY CHANCES OCCUR: S74S Wu* (Wlh/Te&'D'OVV) r%o^ \>y (AockH, 











WEEK 


NUMBER 








DAY 


TIME 


FREQUENCY 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


SAT 


09.00 


8188 


3 SB 


*3 


4 




*3 


*3 


SAT 


11.00 


8488 












*3 


SAT 


12.00 


8488 


SSB 


*3 






*3 




SAT 


20.00 


3825 








* 






SAT 


21.00 


4779 






jt ; *1 








SAT 


22.00 


3825 


SSB 






* 






SAT 


22.30 


3825 


SSB 






* 






SAT 


23.00 


5340 






y±*i 








SUN 


00.00 


4779 






$ 








SUN 


01.00 


5748 


SSB 




* 


* 






SUN 


10.00 


8188 


SSB 


N , *3 


X| *3 


h *3 


Zi *3 




SUN 


11.00 


8188 










Pi *3 




SUN 


12.00 


8488 


SSB 


Wz *3 


h *3 


Yz *3 


Z ±*3 


*3 


SUN 


20.00 


3825 


SSB 


W-j *3 


h #3 


y 1*3 


12*3 




SUN 


21.00 


5340 






- *1 




J 




SUN 


22.00 


4832 


SSB 


c, *ic 










SUN 


22.00 


3825 








*10. 






MON 


13.00 


6200 




>, *1C 




<r>, *ic 






MON 


17.00 


6200 




K *1C 




t * T.tlC 






MON 


17.30 


6200 




)> 1 *ic 




*1C 






MON 


20.00 


5340 


MOW 






*1 






MON 


22.00 


6200 




5^*10 




W**1C 






MON 


22.30 


6200 


S748 


D* *1C 




M?*1C 






MON 


23.00 


6200 




h^*lQ 




Mk,*lC 






MON 


23.30 


6200 




D 1 *1Q 




rt 7 *lC 







TUE 


18.00 


4195 MCN 


* 1 








TUE 


18.00 


4195 SSB 




* 


* 




TUE 


20.00 


4195 MCN 


*1 


H ( *i 




(4572 IcHz - 


TUE 


21.00 


4572 SSB 


*1 


Hz*l 




TUE 


21.00 


3825 MCN 






neu/ly 
(requCACy } 


TUE 


21.00 


5340 


*1C 


*1C 




TUE 


21.30 


5340 


*1C 


*1C 




TUE 


23.00 


3825 SSB 






*3 





* Indicates transmission 

1 or 3 Indicates number of headers (messages) 

C Indicates an interrupted warm up (music box 12345 67890) 

Letters ^xi'vccxVe. r^essoy. groups e.g. rv*ss*z*jc-'X>' h^s /j3 trvi'v^ss^s I 

Cd\*.$ScxyL CX>H1 3 M y Js/ P -*(3, v^crt. ictervtiftecjl \/\ . VN/,K,Y ,21 afvd 

rsoi- \<3uL«\tr»f»t<5 cue- <*.IA nA-or^ r^cc aV^ -( oVlov,^ o C^AlcoA V«l-^cV\CcV^iA^ ^ . 



7 



■V J 



DAY 


TIME 


FREQUENCY 


1 


2 


3 


4 


WED 


09.00 


4195 MCW 




*1 






MED 


13.00 


6200 




Cfc *1C 




*ig *1Q 




WED 


17. 00 


6200 




*1C 




(Acj*lC 




WED 


17.30 


6200 




T>,o * 1 Q 






? z *3 


WED 


20.00 


5340 








WED 


21.00 


5340 








Hi *1G 


p, *3 


WED 


22.00 


6200 




D„ *1C 




J 


WED 


22.00 


5340 


SSB 






P 4 *3 


WED 


22.30 


6200 




T>a *1C 




rtn.*lC 




WED 


23.00 


6200 




Pa *1C 




*i n *ic 




WED 


23. 30 


6200 




Qtt^* 1C 








THU 


13.00 


4195 


SSB 




*3 






THU 


20.00 


5340 






X* *3 






THU 


20.00 


5340 


MCW 




h *3 




THU 


21.00 


5340 






I4 Z * 




THU 


21.00 


5340 


MCW 




1 1*3 




THU 


22.00 


5340 










mu 


23.00 


4779 




*1 








THU 


23.00 


3825 


SSB 








* 


THU 


00.00 


5340 


MCW 








* 


FR1 


No transmissions are 


made on 


Fridays . 





G(i*3 



Can any readers remember when Swedish Rhapsody first started? I can 
remember hearing the station in the mid ~ I960 s, but it is possible 
that it was on air before this time. Have you ever heard it make any 
errors in transmissions ? I do remember that on one occasion during 
certain former Saturday broadcasts (which used to take place on three 
frequencies running together 4779 5340 6507) that the music box just 

kept on playing for 19 minutes , then someone remembered to start the 
message . 

Simon Mason also reports an odd transmission in his book Secret 
Signals " - the music marker stopped as normal and the lady read out 
the first heading (68803) the groups that followed were either 64646 
or 46464 / These groups were sent for 5 minutes , followed by a normal 
message . 

All in all Swedish Rhapsody is a very proffesional set-up. 
Transmissions start on time and are of a high technical standard with 
only the rare mistake . The master scheduling is a task in itself with 
many transmissions in different modes AM & SSB , some with interrupted 
warm up or unbroken warm up, voice or MOW transmissions . Tones 
also sent 10 minutes prior to the music box starting up. On top of all 
this many messages are repeated throughout the week. 

Have you ever listened to the MCH transmissions ? After 10 minutes of 
O these start with the call LOW - what does this mean? Is it some 
kind of in joke ? - are they really saying HELLO HELLO i Nhy use the 
tune Swedish Rhapsody played on a music box ? 

Swedish Rhapsody has changed little over many years despite so many 
changes in Europe since the mid 1960 's. What does this tell us . Is 
Swedish Rhapsody coming from a very stable country ?! 

Comments welcome. 



g 



G4) 3-SOTS QDDIT^ - Sod e AS (Uses CST ~ Time® shorn* are WW //K»i ? 

.... ... 1 — feature on this station later in this issue. 

Please see our najyAm feature on uu*o 

Please also refer to dorse section - station YDS. 

Only two voice transmissions arc known to bo active at prosit ; 

APRIL SUM 20,05 (UTC) 4581 

cmr «« fUTO 4481 (repeat of 20.05) 

APRIL SUM 2U. oo c j 9n „j- nltmvs 100 kHz lower. »■ 

Frequencies change each new month. 

05) COUNTING STATION //S5/S4 

This station which is a Cold Par remnant of the more active S5 is 
ln?yonl\T™ission has been reported since the last issue ; 

MON 03.00 3301 

Despite the fact that there are **™*\J°%* iLSSTZHZ of 
G6) GERMAN LAST '00Q0d ENDING - Mode AM // S6 Family 

Sends all messages using PAIRED groups . Uses different frequency 

random frequencies. Messages are repeated on 
following first airing. 

Regular times for transmissions are ; 

MON 18.00 & 20.00 Times are approximate, recent ID s include 

TUB 18.00 A 20.00 721 807 628. 

TM %'j}0 & 20.00 The station tends to use 4 & 5 Mhz in If inter 

20.00 but moves higher in Summer. 

SUN 07.00 
SUN 19. 00 

G7) GERMAN LADY 'OOO 009 ENDS' - ENDING - Mod® AM // S7 Family - 
sire repeated only once, 
been dropped. 

Regular schedules are suhjeo t to sudden f ^ e > ID ' S als ° ° hmgG 
si thin schedules making it difficult to follow. 



The following logs are in some cases incomplete. 



9 



MOM 


08.00 


8785 


Calling 


ft? 


WED 


06.30 


4550/5850 


Calling 


577 


mu 

mu 

mu 


19.00 

20.00 

22.00 


12135/11570/ 

5250 /4575/ 

/5415/5125 


Calling 

Calling 

Calling 


372 

149 (Now 428) 
416 


FRI 

FBI 


18.00 

19.00 


9127 /7627/ 
5127 /4B27/4447 


Calling 

Calling 


167 

164 


SAT 

Was 


08. OO 12227/11127/9327 

oX AO \OlI) 

heard sending 214-2 on 23rd March 


Calling 224 - 562 -214 or 621 

522 . 

(2 messages for same agent). 



Gil) STRICH - Mode AM (Stays on UTG ) //E11//S12//M3 

Regular slots , but changes frequency without warning. Two ID s are 
active 496 & 752. 496 also receives CM transmissions. 

Calling 496 VOICE 
Calling 496 CM 



Caling 752 



2nd & 4th 


WED 


06.00 


6750 or 7580 




SUN 


07.00 


6640 


WEEKLY 


TUE 


21.00 


4015 or 3823 4780 5015 


WEEKLY 


WED 


08.00 


6430 Alternatives 



G16) GERMAN TWO LETTER STATIONS - Mode SSB/AM (Stays on ETC) //BIB. 

Please see Simon Mason Writes " for some further 2 - Letter news. 

These stations seem to be fairly quiet at present. Only MD in English 
has been reported. 

Most of the German language traffic is sent during the day time on 
high frequencies. 

Reports received since last issue are ; MD ( English ) KW GK HE & SB. 

The only regular evening transmissions are from GK. 

Frequencies are selected from the fol l° i% 9 ° 2 Z°Z Z/Z 

3228 3262 4543 4594 4821 4888 5015 5182 5732 5770 6765 6653 7404 

7532 7661 7752 7858 8063 8173 9040 9325 9450 

mi vn indftf) 10500 10740 11617 11108 11545 12092 12210 12314 13362 
13752 13775 13890 14622 14945 15610 16055 16220 16414 17430 1 o 
18575 19295 19755 20240 20350 20675 22885 

G19) GERMAN MAN 

We have received one report only of a German Man. 

I undeleted a daman dan ending in 000000 n di d used 

years ago. And was the same voices as the (live) Gl. Tyrolean music. 



SAT 21.00 5233 (not heard since November 25th) 



to 



SLAVIC L 4MMMMS 



SZ) DRUMS & TRUMPETS - Mode AM (Changes to Summer Time 1 hour earlier 

than UTC. Times shown UTC) /E1/7M17? 

Monthly 9th of each month regardless of day 20. 30 UTC (19.30 Summer) 

f as operating on 4740 but has recently also used 4720 A 476 ®' 

Tune around for call-sign. Different message sent each month. 



%6) & S7) RUSSIAN MEN '00000' & '000 00(f ENDING - Mode AM (Stays on UTC ) 



No major changes. Still very active on a wide range of t**"? 1 ****' 
Schedules ere vary protracted and frequency usage and ID s prone to 



change. 

S3) FT IT IT - Mode AM/SSB (Now operating to summer time) //M27 (&TV) 

Occasional transmissions have recently been heard in SSB. More regular 
slots have also been found . 

MON 06 30 4425 MED 06.30 4425 Times shown are UTC. 

MON 14.00 4755 MED 14.00 4755 

MOM 18.00 4425 MED 18.00 4425 



The 18.00 messages are 
further transmissions 
of the 06.30 messages. 



repeats of the 14.00 each day. This suggests 2 
which we have not yet located - the duplicates 



For the first time a non-random element as sheared in IT s messages. 
This is not always present but in recent months as usually been there. 
It consists of two groups always at the end of one the four messages. 
Om the 14/18.00 messages only . The first of these groups is always 
00002 and the second, when first heard, was 30607. Gradually this 
became 30608 and is now 30609. 



S12) CHERT A - Mode AM (Stays on UTC) //G11//E11//M3 

Sll The ' Preska ' station does not seem to be active at present, 
however its " Cherts ' relation is alive and well. 



1st & 3rd WED of Month 16.00 3995 Call 971 

1st & 3rd WED of Month 21.00 4015 Call 971 (may move to - 5180) 



1st MON of Month 21.00 3823 Call 755 (may move to - 4465) 

I ashed several of our readers in Russia to comment on this station. 
Ivan & Vassily suggested that at first glance the words are Russia 
but are an enhanced version. They did not feel that the YL was herself 
Russian and found the pronunciation strange. 



The full set of words used (with English phonetic pronunciation) are ? 



1- Adinka 

2- Dvoyka 

3- Troyka 

4- Chetyorka 

5- Petyor'ka 



6- Shest 

7- Syes 

8- Vosyem 

9- Dyevyet 
O- Nul 



- / ” 
Attention 
End 



Chefta 
Vnimahye 
Non yets 



Mr 

S(o : tf>// C/,Jf VCajjtA >4/24 /S25 

•S7f=W.kj • E7/<$7//7 ^/*i/2 



II 



u 



O 



frequencies active are 16303 12275 11410 9330 8142 5301 
S17) CZECH LADY "CONTROL " - Mode" AN (Stays on UTC) 

AMs in no changes to this station. 

Daily 13.55 to 14.02 4485//5027 - single 5F message. 



S 18/19) CZECH MAN - Mode AM 

No reports received. May still be active but very hard to find. Strong 
gravely voice. 

S21) RUSSIAN LADY - Mode AM (Stays on UTC) //M45*~ Se.e. Morse. */&.W£ 



Becoming more active. See also Morse section. Recent reports include 



MON 


20.30 


4500 


(sending a count from 1/9) 


MON 


20.45 


3160 


Calling 402 


TUE 


17.45 


5740 


Calling 342 


TUB 


19.45 


5290 


Calling 491 


THU 


17.40 


5740 


Calling 342 


THU 


19.45 


5290 


Calling 491 


THU 


20.40 


3160 


Calling 402 


SAT 


09.20 


4832 


Calling ??? 


S25) 


RUSSIAN 


MAN “ CONTROL “ - Mode AM (Stays on 



This station likes 
odd starting times 
all reports are 
appreci a ted . 

All messages are 
different. 



UTC) /S6 Family 



Daily at 08.00 on 14890 ID & Isays 815. 

08.20 on 11270# 

*May not move here if the 08.00 message is none standard, i.e. S25A/B. 
11270 may or may not ho used thereafter . 

In recent month the S25A variant sent (instead of the usual Hills or 
22222s ) 44444 on two separate occasions. 



Me appreciate your reception reports, letters and comments , which should 
be sent to 

ENIGMA NEWSLETTER , 17-21, Chapel Street, BRADFORD, West Yorkshire 

BD1 5DT, ENGLAND. 



FACSIMILE AT - 



U& 01274 - 390725 

OVERSEAS +44 1274 - 390725 



E MAIL 



AT - NIKEC # PRAXIS.CO.UK 



The next issue of ENIGMA will be publised in mid to late AUGUST and we 
would appreciate contributions by SATURDAY JULY 13th 1996. 



PLEA SE DROP US A LINE - WE REALLY WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU. 



1Z 



$13 & S14) RUSSIAN COUNTING NSN/WMSN - Mad# AM/S3B 

513) Me have not heard this for some time ( transmissions are normally 
of just 2 minutes duration) anyone else heard him ? 

514) These are quite active and most transmissions go on for hours 
with a repeating loop tape. 



Recent logs have included ; 



14.00 4130 

19.00 4040 

21.00 3875 



' UPT-78 ' 

~8uket-18 ' 

~Gora-43 ' (This means 'mountain') 



Sometimes a Female voice is heard . Several readers in Russia have 
commented about these stations. Ivan tells us they are sending a loop 
tape T am ' announcer 58' have nothing for you, 12345678910 . 

Vassily sent us the following information concerning both S13 & S14 . 

"I have a suggestion concerning stations S13 & S 14 transmissions. I 

have a text book used to train radio personnel ( Exploitation and 
equipment of radio stations " ) published in 1988. This book instructs 
on standard calling of recipient : I am (call sign), I am ( pal * 

Transmit count for tuning - 12345678910' and so on. This phrase is very 
similar to that used by S13. The book recommends to transmit this TAPED 
'■form of standard calling ‘ during adjustment of the radio channel ; m 
a period of unstable propagation conditions . 



To sum up ; S13 Its transmission (2-3 minutes duration ) serve for 

adjusting of the channel to be ready to receive information. But 
information is being transmitted on the same frequency but m a none 
voice mode. 



S14 Maybe these transmissions 
of reception installations for so 
communications' , when signals from one 
received at several fixed points’! 



are intended for adjusting 
called ‘ circular radio 
utility station must be 



Vassily ends by saying that because of the economic situation in 
Russia it is possible that one team may travel between locations 
setting up the equipment , this way it could be left running without 
further adjustment. He tells ENIGMA that he first heard S14 in May 
1995 when it was transmitting between 1.5 A 2.5 hours per day. 



\ 



S16//M6) OLX - Mode SSB (Stays on UTC) 



Still operating 23 hours per 
each hour for about 15/20 



day. Transmissions start at Sr^ies^ to Jf. 
minutes. About 50/50 Morse and voice 



messages. 



Daily : 00.00 to 04.00 

05.00 to 08.00 

09.00 to 16.00 

17.00 to 20.00 

21.00 to 23.00 



5301 8142 12275 

8142 9320 12275 

8142 11416 18303 
5301 8142 9320 
5301 8142 12275 



13 



QTHSS LANGUAGES 



V2) SPANISH LADY 2 & 3 FINALS - Node AH //M8 /V3 

Very active at present. All frequencies shown may vary by +/- 2 kHz. 



MON 


03.00 


8826 


WED 


02.00 


6983 


FRI 


02.00 


6933 


MON 


04.00 


5746 


WED 


03.00 


6827/6797 


FRI 


03.00 


7887 


MON 


05.00 


3282/4028 


WED 


04.00 


7861 


FRI 


05.00 


4028 


MON 


06.00 


7890/6933 


WED 


06.00 


8166/9238 


FRI 


06.00 


8797 


MON 


07.00 


5417 


WED 


07.00 


6800/4028 


FRI 


07.00 


7887 


MON 


08.00 


7527 


WED 


08.00 


6826 


FRI 


08.00 


8797/7887 


MON 


10.00 


4028 


WED 


08.00 


9075 (V3) 


FRI 


23.00 


8013/508? 


TUE 


02.00 


9140 


THU 


01.00 


5404/5419 


SAT 


01.00 


5135 


TUE 


03.00 


6867 


THU 


03.00 


6797 


SAT 


10.00 


6797 


TUE 


07.00 


8010 


THU 


04.00 


10345 








TUE 


08.00 


7527 


THU 


05.00 


6797/6933 


SUN 


02.00 


8126 


TUE 


08.00 


9260 (V3) 


THU 


06.00 


4028/5417 


SUN 


03.00 


7887 








THU 


07.00 


6787/5417 


SUN 


05.00 


7726 








THU 


08.00 


7972 


SUN 


06.00 


6785 








THU 


09.00 


8797 


SUN 


07.00 


5417 








THU 


11.00 


4027 


SUN 


08.00 


7887/8186 








THU 


23.00 


5087 


SUN 


09.00 


7887 



V2 - 5F ID with lighter voice. 

V3 - 3F 2F 2F - then 5F-deeper voice. 



V6) SPANISH LADY 'OOOOO' ENDING - Mode AM (Stays on UTC) //S6 

Likes random times and frequencies but gives a strong signal in 
Europe . 

Was active at 13.00 WED/THU in Sept on 12210 & Oct on 14840. 



Likes Friday and Saturday evenings around 21/22/23.00 ID heard at this 
time is 578. Random frequencies. 



V7) SPANISH MAN ENDS 000 000 - Mode AM (Stays on UTC) //S7 ly 
Another random station, follows KGB/GRU style of operation. 

Random logs include ; 



TUE 


07.00 


5880 


Calling 394 


5880 


repeats on 


8080 


TUE 


07.10 


8080 


Calling 841 








TUE 


08.00 


4627 


Calling 394 








THU 


07.30 


5226 


Calling 394 


5226 


repeats on 


4627 


THU 


08.00 


8080 


Calling 394 









V8) EASTERN MUSIC STATION (Language unknown) - Mode AM /E9 

This station is related to E9, only one confirmed transmission at , 

1st SATURDAY qf MONTH 18.00 on 8645 +/-5 kHz 



14 - 



Once appeared on 2nd Saturday o£ Month (must use 1974 calendar) - 

also possibly heard using 5715 kHz on THU 15.35 & FRI 16.00. 

V 

\ 

This station plays a musical intgjlude and transmissions are quite 
long in duration. 

V9 ) ORIENTAL LANGUAGES - Mode AM 

Main reports received concern North Korea, Ian in Scotland reports the 
following. 

SUN 15.10 6250 Radio Pyongyang with 3F Groups 

SUN 15.17 8398 but not // 

Stations came into parallel at 15.32 when music was broadcast. 

MON 15.05 6388 Radio Pyongyang, 6398 was sending 3F groups, 

modulation left much to be desired. 6250 was sending music. At 15.09 
the groups ended on 6388 and music followed, but was different to that 
on 6250. 

At 15.13 both stations sent the same music until at least 16.10. 

V13) NEW STAR BROADCASTING - MODE AM 

Following all the recent problems in this part of the world I guess 
NEW STAR RADIO TAIWAN was probably very busy. 

The only reports we receive seem to concern 8300 kHz which is 
sometimes audible from early afternoon to late evening in Europe. 

Other active frequencies are ; 9725 11430 13750 and 15388. New Star 

Radio operates 5 frequencies each carrying a different service 
including 8300. 



XPH) HIGH PITCH P0LYT0NE TRANSMISSIONS 

Some patternhas been found (thanks to 'D' & Peter) although the April 
transmission seems to have moved from 21.00 to 20.00 UTC. 

Frequency usage varies according to interference, some monitoring of 
usable frequencies must take place prior to transmission. 

Transmissions repeat at 20 minute intervals from start. 



NOV TUE/FRI 

21.00 5431 

21.20 5131 



DEC TUE/FRI 

21.00 5754 

21.20 5254 

21.40 4454 



JAN TUE/FRI 

21.00 5754 

21.20 5234 

21.40 4454 



FEB TUE/FRI 

21.00 5754 

21.20 5334 

21.40 4454 



MAR TUE/FRI 

21.00 6959 

21.20 5859 * 

21.40 5259 



* This appeared in the broadcast band on top of Radio Bulgaria. 
APRIL TUE/FRI (Now 20.00 UTC) 



20.00 ??? 
20.20 9125 
20.40 7525 



All reports for XPL - XPH - X6 appreciated. 
X6 is still quite active. 



15 



A1 though w& are familiar with many of the voice stations we hear 
sending words and numbers over short wave y we occasionally receive 
reports of other odd transmissions . 

Two stations seem to be heard occasionally which are a little 

outside our coverage but may be of interest . 

Simon Mason told me about a station which can be heard in the 4 Mhz 

band sending 'live' phonetic words read in a male voice „ The words are 

; Adam, Barbara , C ?, D ?, Edward, F ?, Gustav, Henrik, Ingatii, 
Joseph, Karel, Ludwig, Marian , Nicodem, Olga, Pavel/Philip, Quarto, 
Roman, Selena/Stefan, T ?, Ursula, Volenti, W ?, X ?, Ypsilon, 
Zygmunt . 

Transmissions can last for quite a while and long messages are sent . 

Mike in Kent sent me a very interesting reply after I mentioned this 
station to him . ~ 4941 kHz, I have heard this station on 4943 kHz +/- 
3 kHz but it's not been in my logs as I didn't consider it as an 
* ENIGMA *. The story is that during one of the news broadcasts on 
television from Yugoslavia back in 1994 they showed an apparent 
Croatian * Amateur Station asking For help from the West during the 
siege of Sarajavo . However the equipment was tuned to 4943 kHz , 

outside the amateur band , so I listened around +/~ 5 kHz for a few 

evenings and heard the station mentioned above. My assumption was that 
the transmission emanated from either the Serb or Croatian military 
and was related to troop movements or positions . 

It will now be interesting to see if these transmissions continue in 
the light of the current peace initiative, if my assumption was 
correct “ . 

Another station which we have received reports about but is not 
“ENIGMA related seems to emanate from Poland - The station consists of 
'live' numbers and words spoken in Polish . The transmissions are often 
heard in the early mornings and again this station seems to like the 4 
& 5 Mhz area of the band . 

I asked our regular contributor Ivan in Russia if he could throw any 
light on the subject / " The traffic is sent in both directions and 
takes the form of coded ~ telegrams ' . The format for example ; 

*Aikov (?) - 69 to fiagina (?) -28 receive my telegram !+ then an 

identification such as *621 27 2890 8000 621 AE YE 0D V and then the 

message * 

The groups are sent in a 3/2 format such as 352 27 and are spoken in 
the Polish language, in English the example would be read as - *three 
hundred and fifty two - twenty seven * periodically the sender checks 
with the recipient and will repeat any groups not clearly received. 

Ivan tells us the station is probably operated by a state 
organisation . In Eastern Europe such stations still exist where 
technology has not taken over the sending of such messages . 






f> 



MORSE STATION NEWS By M.Q. 

Before we begin our review of recent activity, I d like to 
remind newcomers to 'numbers stations' that it is not possible 
to cover anything approaching the total output of these 
stations. For one thing, there is just too much going on, and 
not enough of us to report it fully. Secondly, to publish, 
for example, every single ID sent by a particular station may 
well be a useless activity, whereas to publish, say, a list of 
group counts logged over a period may be far more useful. It 
all depends on the 'modus operand!' of each individual 
station, as to which information is valuable and which is not. 
This is one reason why most logs we receive (including those 
that we, the editors, compile ourselves) are never published - 
this is not to say that they won't be of unforeseen use at 
some future date. 

The first thing any inexperienced monitor must do, is to 
become familiar with those stations that he/she logs. These, 
at first will be the more active stations, then others will 
follow. We cannot positively identify any station unless we 
are familiar with its habits, which cover all kinds of varied 
characteristics. It is the combination of these which make 
every station unique; a relevant characteristic of one station 
may be completely irrelevant to another, and we really need to 
know the difference. ENIGMA newsletter is not the best way of 
presenting, what I call 'station profiles'; its very nature 
being an evolving infrequent publication. It's far from easy 
to compare the profiles of different stations, merely by 
referrino to back issues of ENIGMA. I feel that we are now at 
a stage “where we could publish, seperately, a full resume of 
of the majority of these stations in a form which would make 
things a lot easier for all of us. The main purpose of this 
newsletter is to publish news on numbers stations, i.e. all 
significant changes, not to waste valuable space by repeating 
already-known or irrelevant information. Any comments are 
very welcome* 

Bearing all this in mind, the list which follows is confined 
to significant changes only. Just because a station does not 
appear on this, it doesn't mean it's no longer active. These 

nan-listed stations are listed, however, in a short 

supplementary list at the end, for information only, and 
without further details - they have all been consistently 
active since reported in ENIGMA 9. 



Mi. The 'A' network following its usual and predicted habits 
except for two odd deviations. On 6th Feb, the 2000 
transmission on 4490kHz appeared also on its old secondary 
channel of 386BkHz. Maybe this was an error, but this still 
indies that a second transmitter was at the ready to be fired 
up on the correct frequency — which was last used around 5th 



17 



August last year. Random monitoring of the secondary freqs 
since has not seen a repeat of this event, however, for 
reasons unknown to us they may still be in use from tame to 
time. The second oddity was a sudden flurqy of anomalous (for 
this station) group counts starting 15th Fe^-at 1800 wi th a 4 
(its presumed decode key was 400; on 23rd March at L 
decode key of 300 resulted in a 40-grouper with a 44444 as its 
4th group - coincidence or design, one wonders.). At 2Q0u i 
departure from 40 groups dropped recklessly down to 30, 
poaching on inferior '8' network territory? This 

undisciplined trend continued for its next tranmissions - tne 
1500 being 43 (not that common) and the 0700 being a 34. A 
period of stability followed until 3rd March 0700: 45. An 

acceptable 41, 41, 42 followed this until the next Thursday 

2000 slot with an unprecedented 50. Since then, apart from an 
isolated 43 its conservative habits prevailed, counts being: 
42. 40, -,40,40, -,40,40, 41, 41, 42, Mia: no message, Mia: 34, Mia: 

40, -,40,40,41, 40, 40, -,40,40, 40, 40 (11th April 2000) Blanks are 
missed transmissions. 

M2 A 'special operation' transmission could have u ° n 

Tue 26th December at 2200 on the non-standard freq of 382SKHZ . 
It used M2 format throughout and its special ID was iO - 

M3 The daily 278 transmission ended at the end of December 
iTT early January the 552 reappeared at IlOO every Monday on a 
most unusual frequency: 7256kHz, in the middle of the 41m 

broadcast band and badly interfering with Deutsche Wel.e. Tn 
was a 3 month schedule and ended on the last Monday of Mar . 
A few messages were sent and also a few M3a type, b ° ' ^ 

and Ills. Many other IDs are fallowing similar schedule- _n_ 
messages are generally at around the 307. level at present. 

M8 As well as its usual on-the-hour activities I logged a 
most unexpected 2210 Emission on 5760kHz (Thur : £ 

there's one like this there are probably others to loo., oj. 
for. All freqs may deviate very slightly but here are some 

known transmissions : - 

sss: sun t U . ^ Th u , 0l7 . 

Fri 4028, Sat 4017 

0300: Sun 4020, Mon 4017, Tue 4028/7528, Wed 5417 
0400: Mon 7682, Tue 3927/6767/7652, Wed 7520, Thu 6/84/6854 
0500: Tue 5417/7890, Wed 8066, Thu 4174/5800 
0600: Mon 5810 

0800: Tue 7520, Thu 6857/7520, Fri 6785 
0900: Tue 6785, Fri 6785 
1000: Thu 6826 

11O0: Mon 8066, Thu 4480, Fri 4174 

There was no doubt about the 5760 transmission: it had all 

MS's characteristics -this may be a regular slot. 



18 



MIC (&M7) Active IDs: 035, 253 (?now dropped ) ,357, 408, 505 , 
640 , 651, 695 , 803 s 820 all heard on 3003,4030//5470, 

4485//5Q27, 4835, 5027//6835, 7850//8190, 9165//9455 etc, 

A variant format of M10 was heard for the first time on 4th 
November, 2100 on 3003//????kHz - for 15 minutes it sent 333 
333 333 000 repeatedly, ending in an extra 000, 

Nil I am almost certain that most, if not all, of these are 
either unidentified 'B' networks or the 'rogue' 'C' networks 
of Mi* However, the very infrequent auto-keyed transmissions 
using this format are still very suspect. Until we learn 
more, we may as well lump all this Hi— type detritus together 
and call it Mil. The only clues di f f ©rent iating the possible 
two stations are the keying and unlikely wide departures from 
Ml's conservative 20 or 30 group format. There have been four 
of these in recent months, any of which may operate regular 
schedules * They need checking very carefully, and all comply 
with with the 20/30 format which would imply Mi, They ares- 
Wed 3rd Jan 1605 ?freq '325' s432 30= 

Mon 19th Feb 1820 4042kHz '103' :846 (repeated as 8451) 32= 

Thu 7th March 1900 5750kHz '713' :171 19= 

Date unknown ? 7835kHz '673' 

M15 IDs in use recently: 158-000 (one of those strange 

M13AS } , 173 , 253 , 254 , 261 , 341 , 346 , 379 , 4 19 , 458 , 714 , 803 , 823 , 042 , 975 
Highest serial number is 165 (for 803), just ahead of 164 (for 
173) - these are for March. If continuing in April they will 
be one higher, i.e. 165 & 166- March's 173 message was of 

possibly record lengths 37 groups. This station's group 
counts are usually in the low twenties. Groups don't seem to 
be as random as they could be ( ! ) , and could do with analysing 
more closely. 

M17 Times and identifiers: Mon 2000-84, 2130-66, 2200-56, 

2300—57; Tue 0800/0900—60, 1900/2000—58 & 66, 2230—?? p Wed 

0800/0900-53, 1630-??, 1700-53, 1900-70, 1930/2030-50 & ?40, 

2200-68; Thu 1500-60, 2030/2130-66, 2130/2230-56, 2200-03; Fri 

no transmissions; Sat 0400-57, 2100-68; Sun 2030-71, 

2200/2300-67. Alternative times indicate seasonal change, 
when known. All transmissions operate on a week-of-mon th 
basis. Freqs in use (always three used consecutively at 20 
minute spacing): 

3410 ,3910, 4270 , 4460 , 4740 , 5235 , 5695 , 5865 , 6290 , 6675 , 6930 , 7425 , 80 
70,9050,9245,10470. May vary by + or - 10 or 20kHz. A record 
37 group count appeared on Tue 19.3 repeating Tue 26.3 - both 

at 2000 to 58862. 

M1B Now on 3802.5 & 4073kHz, probably continuous, sending its 
seemingly pointless minute counts either 3 or 6 hours ahead of 
UTC • 

M20 The chameleon station, M23 in disguise or maybe her 
sister; whoever she is she will not settle down. Has been 



19 



active in the usual bouts possibly every month for a week or 
so at a time. One of its variants,, the one with the five long 
zeroes call gives no clue as to whether a message will follow 
afSs»*5 minutes or not - we have to wait and-see y; .e«g> WedjBtb- 
Nov 0830 7001kHz (in the amateur band) sent a 20 group 
message, yet half an hour later on same freq no message 
fallowed its call. Its five Vs format ended on one occasion 
with its usual =000 at 2030 (null message, 3825kHz), In 
February its 0830 slot an 5540kHz included this repeat formats 
=?? I III then 'VVVVVW for one minute followed by -29 I I 29- 
and the 29 group repeat followed, beginning and ending with 
the same group, 05905. (I have noticed this on several 
occasions with M23 also). Its March flurry at 1930 on 4767kHz 
was again of the five V type ending with a short pause and one 
further VVVVV then off. (several null messages were sent in 
this way) 

M21 Rumoured to be Russian Naval, but proof is in short 
supply. This pops up all over the place with its endless 
quick bursts every minute counting them off, with the 
occasional message squeezing in. Of its two 'forms' the 
??8????? f reqs are : 6524 , 6220 , 5737 , 4574 , 4402 , 3281 , 3271 , 3337 « 
The ??0?????s are to be found on 5017, 4574, 3281. 

M23 M20 in disguise, and has same scheduling pattern, a very 
odd one. In February a 2000 slot operated on 6918kHz, an old 
favourite, where the validity indicator 846 (all even) warned 
of a forthcoming message. One (44 group) message was of the 
Repeat— firs t~group— at-the-end type. For those who care it was 
08001 - there always seem to be a couple of zeroes in these 
groups. A 2030 slot in March on 4630kHz came up night after 
night with ID 747 - only two odd numbers but still apparently 
a zero message indicator. Deathly silence followed after its 
10 minute call, which always ends untidily without warning. On 
the first of April this slot disappeared - all very typical. 

M24A The very first time a variant of the very active M14 has 
been logged — on 13th December 5832kHz an M24 (call missed!) 
ended in the expected way, in this case 50 groupss 50 50 and 
in place of the usual five dashes, it then sent its, or 
another, call, 124, repeated 12 times, then BY HAND the 
followings 854 854 22 = = 11111 liili 00203 00203 * - 854 
854 2 2 00000 (one of those strange two group messages used on 
rare occasions by its counterpart, S6) . Was this a last 
minute addition to the 50 group message, indicating the 
agent's message had only just been received, or at least 
something of this nature? 

M2 6 see M98 

• AAQl 4-V^ S k'r^s (<xrl K <LJ t VvKtcJU 
c\ of- B ( *7 ne. -<xHo 




7 S 



M 29 (VDE) Much more active nowadays. There may be several 
concurrent schedules in operation, and there are two variants, 
the simpler one of which may have replaced the other. At the 
encTW last year 'time' variants were active, but no obvious 
schedules established — possibly due to lack of rigorous 
monitorina • See last issue for a typical example* These have 
since been heard on 9382,9263,6534,3200 & 3110kHz. The, 

simpler variant, M29A « uses the "following formats WV VW DE 

VDE VDE VDE for five minutes, then WV WV DE VDE VDE VDE AR, 

short pause, VW WV DE VDE VDE VDE = = and straight into 5F 
(pairs) ending AR. These groups are by no means random and 

regularly include repeats of 2,3, or 4f sequences and even 

whole groups. The only other station using this unusual form 
of encryption is 64, the 3-Note Oddity, and we suspect that 
VDE is its Norse counterpart (just as STV is YT's). Further 
evidence towards this is its (now, at least) established 

schedule pattern. In March I found two schedules, both daily 
at 1800 on 5480kHz, and 2000 on 4528kHz. At the end of the 

month we expected these freqs to change, and sure enough, they 
did! The J^gOO slot* is at present on 4620kHz, 17^ not Y et 

sought. Like G4 no group count is given in this variant. It 
also sends much shorter messages than either 84 or the 

'original' M29 - between 11 and 18 groups so far. These 

transmissions are almost certainly coming from a Central 
European ex-Warsaw Pact country. They do not send messages in 
the normal sense of the word, but send intelligence of another 
form.^fc/ow on Su/^ftr » 



H32-stvle complex There have been so many reports of stations 
similar to N32 , operating at all times and on numerous freqs 
that we cannot handle the information i It is doubtful whether 
they are all related, although they do share callsign 
structures, amongst other elements, in common. M32 itself has 
been identified by two independant sources as 'a Russian 
military exercise net' which it could well have been. Not 
strictly something we'd cover , but interesting all the same — 
see my article in mi. srt-J the previous issue. 

M33 P8K is back again on its usual 6960kHz, and also a new 
freq in parallel of 5760kHz (MCW), every (?) evening at 2000 & 
2100. P7X and similar calls are to be found on other freqs 
from time to time but are less suspect, as they tend to have a 
mare mi 1 itary— type aura. All probably from France. 

H39 Active last few months of 1995, 0700,0800,0900 with 
'instruc tions* (we can hardly call these single groups messages) 
to 034,231,287,405 fic 497. Freqs: 3013,4515,5293,6690 & 7810. 
More on this another time. 

*M44* A new station! First heard 14th March on 3775kHz. This 
operated 24 hours a day non-stop sending nothing but single 



l\ 



random 5-letter groups without breaks, and only using the 26 
letters of the Roman alphabet. A distinctive low buzz was 
used as modulation - interrupted carrier. This station 
disappeared by the following Thursday, to be rediscovere d on 
4620kHz, and soon after, disappeared again and has not BBBi 
found since. It originated, we believe, in the Nivernais 
region of France ~ but: WHY? 



Another new one! First heard on 28th March at 
1700 on 6777kH2!o Here's the complete transcripts call 150 
repeated for 5 minutes 9 then 038 038 21 21 ~ ~ 00000 95990 

16162 88288 49857 84818 77208 26774 08483 57851 76088 05021 

18826 50443 35082 74301 47157 95Q28 73728 50645 73610 (All 

paired ) ~ = 038 038 21 21 000. The familiar 00000 first group 

and not quite random groups - there are four 88 sequences and 
two 578 sequences in this small sample - reminded me or 
another station, S21. So listening out for this one at its 
usual 1740 slot I was not that surprised to find that M45 is 
the morse counterpart of S21. Even more interesting was that 
the message was identical; only the ID being different, S21 & 
being the expected 342. This is a regular slot on Tuesdays 
and Thursdays, and it is quite likely that all S21 s are 
associated with M45s but using different IDs. No other 

numbers stations have this peculiarity. Why send the same 
message in two modes? Strong signal > Slow CW- 



% M46 $ At 0900 on 11th Dec on 13060kHz this popped up* 
Sending increasing 3f groups at a random rate, most but not 
all separated by = They ran all the way up from 008 (start 
missed) to 986, 56 groups in all and 41 of these were above 
800. The ending was =NNNNAR===== Short zero, CW. 



*tHZ* On 29th January at 1530 on 5343kHz CW another new 
station was sending increasing 1,2 & 3f groups. Ian of P®^b, 
like myself again missed the beginning- 198/95 206/95207/95 
210/95 215/95 216/95 254/95 1/96 2/96 4/96 5/96 9/96 iy 9 & 
12/96 a few mors then AR and off- He'd heard a similar 
transmission 'a few weeks' earlier. Perhaps they appear at 
near the end of each month. The 95s & 96s probably refer to 
years, and the numbers possibly to message serial numbers or 
day numbers. A cumulative record of messages received, maybe. 



M 98 The '98' station has not been heard this year so far, 
but long breaks are quite normal and no cause for concern 



STATION CHECK LISTS - additions:- 

M10A - triplet-OOO variant 

M24A - hand-keyed two group variant 

M44 - Continuous 5 letter 

M45 - Russian Lady morse, ends 000 

M46 - 3f cumulative, ends = N N N N AR — - 

M47 — 1,2 & 3f cumulative, ends AR 

mb - ~ rr's PlKt 



2Z 



SINGLE LETTER MARKE RS ~ MX 



There hasn't been any noticeable change in activity levels. 
For the record - Permanent clusters (all C & S) : 20Q.8, 
16332 , 13527 , 10871 , 8495 , 7039 , 51 54/4S56kHz - these last two seem 
to alternate but are sometimes simultaneous. 

Permanent solitaries - 3091 *L - still with its chirp spent a 
while on 3086; 3196 :R; 3323: R; 3174:V - one nxght thxs one 
was having transmitter problems which sounded Ixke arcxng in 
the PA stage. It caused very bad QRM but was back to normal 
the following night* „ t 

Transients - 3166,3806,3838: all P, often two running 
together % 4045 :P These Ps sometimes end m short ofig 
messages with 33333 as last group. 4556:P - a cluster freq 
also. 4825:P, 6872:P - often around 0400-0900; 6972sP, 
5880 :P, 4546s V - may have been the permanent marker moved rrom 
3174: 5274 sV - irregular rate (MXV) ; 4325 :R St 4652: C — both 
possibly permanents venturing from their usual haunts. On 6th 
March a B appeared on 7440kHz but by 0700 this had changed to 
V. This could have been a keying error as B markers don t 
seem to exist, however, V markers being peculiar in several 
ways , have mutated like this before, (see note in last issue). 



ACTIVE MORSE STATIONS. 

The morse station news above does not necessarily cover 
routine station activity, and omits certain very active 
stations altogether, where no significant changes have taken 
place. Many of those covered above are still carrying on their 
usual operations. AH the following are active at their 
normal levels, and following their usual scheduling patterns:- 
Ml, M2, M3, M4, 0LX , M7 , MB, M10, Mil?, M12, M14/24, M17, M18, 
M20, M21, 4XZ (M22) , M23, BTV(M27) , HEP < M28 ) , VDE(M29) , 
FDCCM30) - we'll publish something on this in next issue), M32 
complex, P8MM33), M35, M39, M42, M43, M45, M46?, M47?, M34?, 
M36?» M26? M16(8BY)> was last reported in January after 
becoming more and more erratic - it may or may not be stxll 
around - I must admit, I haven't looked for it 



There have been so many M32-like and ' pseudo-commercial 
marker' variety stations about lately, that instead of 
publishing further details in this issue, an article devoted 
to these is planned for ENIGMA 1, . Whether or not any of 
these are "numbers" related is uncertain — they are definitely , 
not all "military exercise nets" - 6XMB St C37A for example. 



Many thanks to all of you who have sent in logs. With morse 
activity rising we need more dedicated monitors. If any 
reader would like to help us unravel some of the deeper 
mysteries of any particular station please let us know, and 
we'll supply you with all the useable information we have on 
that station. 

S BY' Sft U trrojh'c — A pin l 



25 



a 



THE TWO-TONE STATION {Ml) By M.Q. 

v 

Part 2 — the end .Mwotonth transmissions - Mia and Mib . 

Continuing from the last issue, we will devote this feature 
entirely to the intriguing transmissions which occur on the A 
network, three times at the end of each month. It is these 
which make Ml by far the most varied of all numbers stations. 
They follow the normal 'A' network scheduling pattern, and 
never occurred on the other networks. They can be heard only , 
on the last Thursday and Saturday of every month, as follows:- 
Thursday 1800 & 2000, Saturday 1500. They use the same 

seasonal IDs and frequencies that were listed in ENIGMA 9, and 
are hand-keyed as are all Ml transmissions. The three are 
always different and never repeated 

However, the format used is radically different, although a 
normal-type message format is sometimes included towards the 
end of the transmission, with one odd difference - groups are 
not paired, nor are decode key, nor is the group count. This 
is the Mlb variant. To simplify our understanding of these 
transmissions, they need to be seen as a string of elements 
which have dif ferent purposes and many of which are optional ? 
and not necessarily ever — present in any particular 

transmission. On rare occasions a normal Ml transmission 
takes place, complete with paired groups, which is always a 
rather disappointing anti-climax: 



Analysis of elements 

All elements are separated by periods of silence ranging from 
a few seconds to over a minute, depending an at what stage 
they occur. Their approximate length can usually be estimateu 
with a little experience, but the sudden return of keying 
without warning is always a little disconcerting* Only two 
elements are common to all transmissions - the first ana 
last - all the rest are "optional", however, elements or 
particular types always occur in the same order. Fr *^ en *_“ s ® 
is made of "triplet" operational codes i.e. Ill, 333, 7// * 
999. The first element always begins with the present, 
schedule number which is seasonal, and the same as used by the 
usual Ml for calling i.e. 197,463 or 025. The second part of 
this element consists nearly always of a single five figure 
group, the first two figures of which are related to the 
season of operation. (the single exception will be covered 
later) A typical example of a complete first element would 
bes 025 025 025 12728 12728 where the figures 12 are related 
to the 025 schedule only, and not to any other. In practice, 
this element would be sent like this between four and seven 
times - the number of repeats depends on the operator s 
dedication and has no obvious significance. We‘11 call This 
first element, element A. 






2 * 




n 



A long, silent break then follows lasting from 45 t<^ 70 
seconds, although it is supposed to be one minute, at least 
this is what the more diligent operators aim for, no. ao^fe, 
with stop watch at the ready ! The second element then follows 
and is identical to the first except that the schedule number 
is now a triplet - 111 or 333, usually 333. The 5-figure 
group, although still related to the schedule number is never 
the same. This is an actual example, a continuation of the 
one given earlier (June 1994, 2000): 333 11386 11386 where the 
11 is related to the 12 previously- Again, this element will 
repeat about 5 or 6 times- We'll call this element 81. 



After a further silence another element of this structure may 
follow, again with 333 and a further , but related 3* figure 
pair- We'll call that B2. 



The next element (element C) is more variable than the others 
and seems to refer to the dates of previously received 
messages within that month, as the figures are always less 
than the date of transmission- From this point onwards no 
elements are repeated, so if missed the first time, one gets 
no further chance. This indicates that they are of less 
importance, and more a matter of confirmation of receipt or 
otherwise. To make things even more confusing this element 
has two forms - we'll call them CX & CY. CX always begins with 
a triplet - ill 333 or 777 ~ and is followed by a few figures: 
the dates. Different operators have different ways of 
designating these, which can lead to ambiguity. Nearly always 
the triplet is 333. I have only logged one 111 and one 777, 
and both were interesting: ill 77 55 and 777 06 333 10. The 77 
& 55 cannot be dates, unless they mean 7th and 5th repeated, 
but in other cases dates are always listed in order singly • 
The 777 included a 333 in the same element, each referring to 
different dates. The CY element is rarer, and consist of 020 
or 040 not necessarily followed by dates. Like the triplets, 
these are also operational codes, and not surprisingly, decade 
keys of 0-0 are never used, neither are triplets. * 

Element D only occurs when a message is to follow and is 
always 111 999 (except once when in January 1996[20G0j tabs 999 
was omitted. As soon as the message began I expected an error 
had been made, but another peculiarity was the low group count 
of 20, never before recorded , so it may not have been). 

Soon after this the message begins ~ usual group count 40 - 

just like Ml. Deviations are not common. Everything is sent 

once only e.g. 350 40 * 97620 51104 99663 * 358 40 

About 607. of transmissions include a message like this - 
element E. 

Element F sometimes follows about 10-15 seconds later and 



25 



= 277 41- 



consists of ill followed by one or two 5-figure groups all 
sent once only. They are un-related to schedule number and 
a ppear random™ ... .. .. .... - =•*... 

The final element 8 (follows immediately after a message, but 
less quickly after any of the elements B or C and never 
follows A) is the ending, which is 111 000 sent once. The ill 

is always omitted after a straight end-of-month transmission, 
and was once omitted after an Mlb, perhaps an error. 

Reconstruction 

If all this sounds confusing, here's a reconstruction of an 
imaginary transmission which, unrealistically, includes 
possible elements, giving examples of eachi- 

A . 463 463 463 48321 48321 (sent 6 times - i min pause) 

Bis 333 47299 47299 (as above) 

B2s 111 48472 48472 (as above) 

CX; 333 08 17 21 (30 second pause) 

Ds 111 999 (10 second pause) 

Es 277 41 = (41 single 5f random groups) 

Fs (20 second pause) 111 06372 18863 
Gs (15 second pause) 111 000 

Theoretically, this transmission could actually take place. . 
The shortest actual Mia only included two elements, and a ^ 
was exceptionally included in the first ones 
197 197 197 333 89011 89011 (all only sent twice!) 

(15 second pause) 111 000 

Relationship of Seasonal 5f — Groups 

As mentioned earlier, the 5f groups used in eiements A 8e B are 
related to the schedule in operation - which is seasonal. Th 
first two figures are the most significant, although the 
Irl by no ...ns o.ndo. - .oo.tioo. the ijd, .ntic.l group 
will appear months or years apart - but never out of season. 

025 usess 10 11 12 13 

463 use«=s47 48 - 50 - 51 - 59 

197 uses: 36 37 38 - 53 - 61 - 64 - 80 - 86 87 88 89 

A few clusters are noticeable, but why does 197 use 53, _ when 
51 ^nd 59 belong to 463? Why has 197 got Zl 

as many as 025? Will we ever know? Does it matter. 

ideas? 

k AS Si*niL#Kjy£S uP~tf 

PQ - 494/ 5001 3027 1693 2233 2379 8032 9508 7031 1114 8285 9717 3434/2 
497/ 111 AA GR43 via other means: T - F or H, F - W or X 

503/ 9449 7852 4327 9243 8858 3007 1738 6660 0704 1498 1411 8885 

0434 3112 9865 5924 5036 5279 2444 7731 1424 6920 9593/1 

504; via other means - E/Y - F/W - C/U 



26 



Since the early days? ENIGMA we bare had lots of new members. It 
seems like a good idea 'Inst to review some of the books available os 
the subject of Number ^f^flons. With such a closed subject very little 
reference material is available but we can recommend the following 
reading . 

SECRET SIGNALS - THE EURONUMBERS MYSTERY . By Simon Mason . 

Reviewed in ENIGMA issue 2 . ISBN 0-933853 -28- 0 

With almost 70 pages on European Number Stations Secret Signals 
reviews both past and present activity . A list of over 300 

frequencies , plus schedules and transmission times is also included ; 
perhaps most interesting are details of clues found in transmission 
mistakes and traffic excerpts . 

AVAILABLE FROM ; TIARE PUBLICATIONS P.Q . Box 493 Lake Geneva, WI 53147 
United States of America . 

COST ; $9.95 plus $3.00 postage. Foreign payments must be in 

US funds. Cheques drawn on a bank which has a United 
States correspondent bank . Postal money orders , VISA 
or MasterCard may be more convenient . 



INTERCEPTING NUMBER STATIONS. By Langley Pierce . 

Reviewed in ENIGMA issue 5. ISBN 095-19783-47 

Around 94 pages of detailed information . The book starts with the 
history of Number Stations and goes onto detail each operation by 
intelligence community - CIA (USA), MIS (Great Britain), END 
(Germany), ect . Each section is well laid out with details of each 
stations characteristics . 

AVAILABLE FROM ; Interproducts , 8, Abbot Street, Perth, PH2 OEB, 
Scotland . Telephone ; UK 01738 - 441199 

O/seas -1441733 - 441198 

COST ; £9.95 including UK postage . Add £1 Seamail or 

£2.00 for Airmail. 



THE UNDERGROUND FREQUENCY GUIDE. By Donald M. Schimmel . 
Reviewed in ENIGMA issue 8. ISBN 1-678707-17-5 



The third edition contains 209 pages and is split into 5 sections . 

1) Number Stations. 2) Mystery Networks . 3) Four Puzzles (including 

Single Letter Beacons). 4) Miscellaneous Mystery Signals . 5) The 

Underground Frequency List. 

AVAILABLE FROM ; High text Publications Inc . P.O. Box 1489, 

Solano Beach, CA 92075, United States of 
America . 

Or ; Gazelle Book Service Ltd, Falcon House, Queens 
Square, Lancaster, LAI 1RN. UK. 

Telephone ; UK 01524 68765 

O/sea +441524 68785 



COST ; £15.49 Including UK Postage . Add £1.85 for Airmail. 



Close Up N 



htogforS# 

At the height of the Coki War some 
Hurnbefside ftehemven played a role in 
gathering intelligence for Britain. OfT 
Russia’s Ar^Qoa^they took - 

photographs and recorded rasSo traffic 
underthe noses of the Soviet navy. 




Raudern in the north of England may have seen 
a television programme in the series- ." Close 
Up HorttT broadcast in Mid ~ January 199B . 



FXSHXHG FOR SECRETS 




A former trawler skipper has told how British Intelligence recruited 
hist and other fishermen to spy on the Russians. At the height of the 
Cold War according to Mason Redfern, they provided valuable 
information for MI6 on Soviet naval operations in the Arctic, 

Hr Redfern has kept silent about his role in the world of espionage 
for 30 years. He says he is speaking out now in protest at the 
Government's refusal to compensate today's fishermen for the loss of 
their livelihoods in the battle over R0 quotas. 

He says that during the Sixties and Seventies trawler skippers 
photographed Soviet warships under the cover of fishing some of the 
most sensitive waters in the world. 

He recalls being issued with a camera with a telephoto lens* a 2ft 
telescope and an identity chart showing the silhouettes of enemy 
craft. 

Trawler owners in Hull and Grimsby were paid thousands of pounds in 
compensation when catches were reduced by spying activities. 

'When we spotted Russian vessels, my eyes were peeled for radar 
equipment, antennae and evidence of missile systems'. 

The programme also showed how 'extra' fishermen were placed on vessels 
- they spent time on board locked in the radio room with equipment 
which they had brought on board. These 'extra" fishermen carried out 
monitoring activities from the trawlers as they sailed close to the 
Russian coast. Equipment was stored in weighted bags - which in the 
event of boarding by the Russians would be thrown over-board. 

At the time the Labour Government refuted claims that fishermen were 
involved. But in the programme. Lord Rodgers, who as Bill Rodgers was 
Defence Minister at the time, claims he was misled, probably by MavaX 
Intelligence, into issuing a denial. 

In 1974, fishermen's leaders rebelled against their involvement in 
spying after the freezer trawler Gaul disappeared off the Sforth Cape 
of Morway with the loss of 38 crew. An official inquiry concluded that 
the trawler had been overwhelmed by huge seas. Bereaved relatives 
believe, however, that she was caught while spying and that Russia and 
Britain are to this day conspiring to conceal the truth. 



Reports from the United States in 1990 suggested that more than 

200 Soviet "survey & research" and so called "fishing trawlers" were 

festooned with antennas and surround the American coastline. 

The suggestion of 'Humber' station broadcasts from ships have 
persisted for many years, indeed, KHXGMA continues its own 
investigations into the former offshore Radio Horth Sea International- 



es 



RADIO NQRTHSEA INTERNET IQNAL - the espionage links 

This is just a short reply to certain people who have written 
i n> believing in all honesty, that RNX was purely and simply 
there to provide en tertainmen t * We can assure you that this 
was the case only during its latter period 9 and even at the 
end* the ship complete with transmi iters , was sold to the 
Libyan government, BVD, MI5, B WD and CIA all had an interest 
in it from the early days. hare on RNI will be published 

later but here are a few points to ponder: Why did two Stasi 

agents (Meister & Boliier) set up a pirate station in the 
first place, the first ever with HF transmi tiers? Ulhy was it 
financed largely by the DDR government? Why did it have 

mysterious links with Biafra, Libya and the UDBA, the Jugoslav 

State Security Service? Why was £?5,QQ0 worth of bugging 
equipment found by the Dutch FTT when they raided Neister' s 
and Bollier's suite at the Grand Hotel, Scheven ingen? Why did 
the British government decide to jam RNI, an unprecedented 
action? Where do the antics of the Tyrolean Music Station 
(Gl) fit in to the Jig-saw? What were the out*~of -hours coded 
transmissions all about, and what was in that locked 
room.--..? For those who still doubt, there are many more 
questions of this nature which remain unanswered . 

And, of course, by now it is common knowledge that it was 
Edwin Boliier who supplied Libya and the Stasi with certain 
electronic timers just prior to the Lockerbie 'accident'. It 
was one of these supplied to the DDR that found its way to the 
PFLP-GC, and ultimately into the explosive device on Flight 
103. (Incidentally, that other bomb on the MEBG I X was 

ironically, totally unconnected with espionage activities, and 
was, as you rightly say, Jacques, merely the result of 
commercial rivalry). 

M.G. 

For ARs 

This isn* t in the county of Lincolnshire nor has it any connection with 
a nocturnal operator from that county, of course. Perhaps that other Dark 
operator, Sefton Delnier^ had his HQ m Eldon Road- Photo taken June 1995 P 

C* Sands 

P.S. May we draw your attention to a short paragraph on page 44* 




v MEMBERS " QUESTIONNAIRE - THE RESULTS 

'^"^hank^yoo to all our readers who have taken time out to return our 
questionnaire , this was sent out to reader who were due to renew their 
subscriptions for issues 9 & 10. 



Why did we produce a questionnaire ? The main reasons were to find out 
what you thought of the newsletter and also to ask what changes you 
would like to see. 

The results are presented in two sections. The first part profiles our 
readers and what they you think of the Newsletter and the second 
reviews your comments. 

Me received over 50 replies from a total of 80 issued, a 65% response 
rate is very high. THANK YOU. 



OUR READERS ~ THE PROFILE 



Ql„ How did you find out about ENIGMA ? 



Short Have Magazine 
Not Sure 
British DX Club 
World DX Club 
Practical Mireless 
Funk Magazine (Germany) 



32% 


International SW League 


6% 


13% 


Science Museum 


5% 


12% 


BBC Monitoring Service 


4% 


71 


Electron (Germany) 


3% 


7% 


Radio Nederland 


3% 


6% 


Austrian Radio ORF 


2% 



(Thank you to all above organisations for your support). 



Q2. Do you monitor Number Stations ? Regularly Occasionally Never 

34% 83% 3% 

Q3 . Do you specialise ? Utilities Broadcast Amateur Numbers 

301 22% 18% 30% 

Many reader ticked more than one choice (which was fine) and this is 
reflected in the total of 60% who are regular Utilities/Numbers 
listeners . 

Q4 . If Numbers Stations, how many years have you monitored these ? 

The average of all listeners was 8 years. 



Q5. Have you kept logs over this period ? 

Yes 85% No 35% 

Q6, Do you have a particular interest in espionage-related activities 
as opposed to related radio communications ? 

Yes 82% No 18% 



/ 



30 



to monitor a particular station and/or 

\ 

Not Certain 1% 

Q8. Do you think ENIGMA is good value for money ? 

YES 98% No 0% Fair 2% 

Q8. How do you rate the following aspects of ENIGMA ? 



Voice Station lews 


¥G 


712 


G 


29% 


F 


0% 


P 


0% 


VP 


0% 


= 


100% 


Morse Station News 


TO 


47% 


G 


40% 


F 


7% 


P 


0% 


VP 


6% 


= 


100% 


Letters to ENIGMA 


TO 


34% 


G 


58% 


F 


10% 


P 


ox 


VP 


0% 


= 


100% 


Things That Go Buzz 


TO 


472 


G 


381 


F 


6% 


P 


02 


VP 


0% 




100% 


Sisson Mason Writes. 


VG 


432 


G 


56% 


F 


1% 


P 


0% 


VP 


0% 


= 


100% 


Bookshelf 


TO 


382 


G 


48% 


F 


18% 


P 


02 


VP 


0% 




100% 


Station Feature 


TO 


582 


G 


34% 


F 


8% 


P 


0% 


VP 


0% 


- 


100% 



Q10. Which words best describe the general style of the Newsletter ? 



Q7 . Would you be prepared 
prepare schedules etc ? 

Yes 58% No 35% 



*This was a multiple choice question 


and from 


the 


total sampled 


each word scored 
reader choosing 


as follow 
that word. 


- from a potential 


of 


100% 




L.e every 


Maximum selection 


52 


times. 


Maximum 


= 


1002 


of 


Selection 


Trivial 


Selected 


0 


times 


from 


52 


~ 


0% 


of 


potential 


Serious • : v ; 


^Selected 


28 


times 


from 


52 




53% 


of 


potential 


Educational 


Selected 


20 


times 


from 


52 




38% 


of 


potential 


Friendly 


Selected 


28 


times 


from 


52 




50% 


of 


potential 


Authoritative 


Selected 


19 


times 


from 


52 


= 


37% 


of 


potential 


Detailed 


Selected 


44 


times 


from 


52 


- 


85% 


of 


potential 


Accurate 


Selected 


22 


times 


from 


52 




42% 


of 


potential 


Pointless 


Selected 


1 


time 


from 


52 




2% 


of 


potential 


Interesting 


Selected 


47 


times 


from 


52 




90% 


of 


potential 


Boring 


Selected 


0 


times 


from 


52 


= 


0% 


of 


potential 


Superficial 


Selected 


0 


times 


from 


52 




0% 


of 


potential 


Entertaining 


Selected 


13 


times 


from 


52 




25% 


of 


potential 


Pointless was mentioned 
ihing. 


in 


the context 


that 


we 


never decode 



On the next pages we take a look at your comments about the Newsletter 
and what else you would like to see. 



3 / 



THE NEWSLETTER - PRINTING & FORMAT 



The print quality of ENIGMA caase in for some adverse consents along 
with the small si xe of the print, the other main comments in this area 
related to the adoption of a consistent format . 

^ We have tried hard to improve this area of concern and hope that 
issue 9 was much better. The format will continue as per issues 8 9 & 
10 j, we are trying to keep a check on the sise of the print and quality 
of reproduction. 



- SECTIONS 

The general consensus of opinion was that the sections with in the 
newsletter were about right, the comment - leave it alone - came 
across from many readers „ Although it depends on your own particular 
interests many readers asked for sections to be extended. 

Morse coverage, Simon Mason Writes & Things That Go Buzz all scored 
well, but the Book Reviews received a mixed following. Seme readers 
asked for a better layout of Yoice News. 

* The message leave it alone was the strongest, will try to open up 
certain sections further, but this also relies on your input. We are 
trying to improve the layout, but the way in which some stations are 
scheduled makes it difficult to follow just one format. 



- THE MATERIAL CONTENT 

Your comments about the newsletter were very positive, comments 
included ; 

*’Aii that could be desired 88 
"Highly Impressed" 

"Efficient & responsible style" 

Other readers referred to 'too much information' making it difficult to 
take everything in and a bit 'wordy'- Others asked for more editions 
with less content- And some suggested we make it more fun to read. 

* We were pleased with all your comments and happy that so many 
readers like the end product. At present we aim for 3 issues per year. 
Really^ I am afraid it is all down to time ! We also try to allow you 
sufficient time to digest each issue and make contributions for the 
next one. 

- EDITORIAL COMMENT 

Positive suggestions about the way we treat the subject were received, 
some readers were un-happy with the tenuous links between stations 
(e.g. how do we know that stations like Swedish Rhapsody & M4 are 
related). We were asked not to put pet names to station in a serious 
journal - 'Bulgarian Betty' was one example. 



3Z 



Vi 



\ 

\JThe ©a in i ague surrounded attempts to put locations and operators 

.^VgSiinst stations - you suggested that we could certainly speculate but 
should not commit until we had a firm transmitter or agency location. 

* We only link stations together when we are certain that they are 
operated by the same organisation - this is based on extensive 
monitoring. The use of pet names is an evolutionary process and since 
the introduction of our Control Lists the naming of stations has become 
easier. We will continue to use names such as Lincolnshire Poacher 
along side its (E3 prefix) since it uses the musical interlude for 
identification purposes. 



ENIGMA is a discussion forum and we welcome "speculation' but agree 
that no firm operators should be named without first having located 
the transmitter sites. 



~ WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIRE TO SEE ? 



The following areas of interest were all mentioned ; 



Features on - Stations in the Far Hast. 

~ Stations in North & South America. 

- Codes Cipher, Encryrption, One-Time 
Pads, De-crypt ion. 

~ Direction finding equipment A exercises. 

- Transmitter Sites. 

- The Workings of a Numbers Station. 

- WW IX & the ENIGMA system, including 
the VI 's and ex wireless operators. 

- Intruder Watch A Data Transmissions. 

- Research on in-active stations. 

- The History of Number Stations over 
the last 40 years. 

* We would be very happy to look at overtime of the subjects you have 
mentioned. If you are interested in writing a feature of contributing 
towards a subject we would be very pleased to hear from you. 

Other more specific requests included ; 

■ '■ Vo J * - .. Vi 7 

- The Control lists issued separately. 

- A list of cyrillic A morse symbols. 

- A "sorted by frequency list". 

••• - A classified advertisements section. 

~ A "home" page on Internet - Alt ENIGMA . 
r Technical information on equipment used 
• by readers A receiver recommendations. 

- Information on current books available 
on the subject. 

We are always looking for ideas ! We also keep every piece of 
information we receive from you, nothing is ever disposed of, this is 
then used towards features which appear in future issues. 



33 



- QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

We were asked a number of questions on 
along with other suggestions not covered. 
some of these here. 




the documents you returned 
We will attempt to answer 



One good suggestion was to take a small short wave receiver with you 
when going on holiday. Comparing signal strengths overseas helps us to 
get an idea of the general area of a station and its targets. 

Several readers again voiced concern about the legal position of 
listening to lumber Stations and also keeping logs and documents. 

We always try to protect our readers and only publish first names and 
general locations. We also welcome anonymous information. By there 
very nature lumber Stations are intended to be heard, however, we seem 
unlikely to learn anything about message content.. Legally (in the UK) 
listening to almost anything except licensed radio broadcasters and 
amateurs is illegal, this then leaves about 95 X of the radio spectrum 
we should not then tune to. 

We were asked to clarify the situation concerning readers in North. & 
South America. ENIGMA is only a small organisation, it was felt that 
we would be-unable to handle the very high potential distribution of 
copies to the America's. We have restricted membership to Europe, The 
C.I.S and Middle East. We do have several readers in India & The Far 
East . 

Several readers do receive copies in the USA, but we have not 
advertised or promoted ENIGMA In this area. We advised some well known 
monitors in the States that they were welcome to reproduce information 
from ENIGMA in other publications if they wished to do so. 

Another comment we received read — r; why do jfou stick to 
riddles/mysteries when a mystery is unwrapped ? Like SLHFB s which are 
in fact Naval Channel Markers. No mystery at all or the BT ??? "time 
signal station"* which ise operated by the Russian Air Defence service, 
no mystery . 

To answer, ENIGMA deals in an area full of mysteries and riddles, the 
stations mentioned are not listed in any official publications nor do 
they have official call-signs, as such we can only speculate as to 
their purpose and origin. Rumours of Russian involvement are suggested 
by monitors in the USA. It is important to gather firm evidence about 
ENIGMA related subjects before saying for certain what is what and 
where it is coming from. 

«e believe that Lincolnshire Poacher is operated by MI6, but we still 
wish to know more — where are the transmitters 7 what are its targets 
?, what goes on behind the scenes ?, we should not stop researching a 
station until we are happy with all the answers, just like SLHFB ss & 
the BT ??? ... - the more information we can gather the better . 

And last but not least we were asked how many readers we have, on 
direct mail around 200. The newsletter is also re-copied and 
distributed by second parties. ENIGMA was described by one reader as 
having a membership like the “US Communist Party" - more infiltrators 
than 'real' members ! (no offence intended). 



34 



CONCLUSIONS - 



I think we are safe to say that you do like the Newsletter, which is 
good news for the editors ! 

Your response rate was very high - which is rare with questionnaires 
- ®ost of us don't like filling them out and only one reader seemed to 
dislike the idea of being asked questions about himself. 

He will try hard to make the improvements you have requested. Above 
all were the excellent suggestions concerning the kind of things you 
would like us to tackle in the future. 

You have given us lots of ideas for future features and we will also 
look at the specific requests you have made. 

He feel that it is important to concentrate on our core activities and 
not become too mainstream, there are lots of excellent magazines and 
newsletter which cover every aspect of the 'radio' hobby, but ENIGMA 
covers things others do not. 

The most important part of ENIGMA - ARE YOU THE READERS - without 
which we would have no newsletter. We would ask you to help us in the 
following ways ; 

Send in your logs and station news. 

Let us have your comments about any aspect 
of Number Station listening & the Newsletter. 

Contact us If you are interested in writing 
a feature. 

Any information on espionage (in the press 
or media) are of Interest to ENIGMA. 

Look in your local area - Number Stations 
transmitters could be nearer than you think. 

Tell us about local transmitter sites. 

Take a SM radio on holiday - tell us what 
you hear . 

If you are not a regular contributor, make It 
your New Years resolution to drop us a line. 

Thanks for all your support, we are now at issue 10, when we started 
we never imagined that ENIGMA would be so successful, there is still 
much to learn about this little known area of the listening hobby. 



PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH A LET'S LOOK-FORWARD THE NEXT 10 
ISSUES 



35 




r> 



THE LI.S.X NUMBERS SCENE - a review of the October 1994 
'Monitorir\ggJ£imes' Convention By M.G. 

We received a recording over a year ago of John Fulford and 
Larry van Horn speaking at the above Convention. It is 
labelled "Spy Number Stations". 

On the whole, it was rather a disappointment, yet this came as 
no great surprise, as, by now, we have become accustomed to 
the general poor quality of material which emanates from that 
country. Despite having said this, it does not stoop to the 
levels of "Havana Moon" and his wild flights of fancy. It 
only emphasises how much more rigorous we are at investigating 
numbers stations, here in Europe. Even in 1994 we were well 
ahead of the USA in the crucial matter of station 
identification. 



My two major criticisms were the disorganised and over 
frivolous presentation, and the totally inadequate, 

unsystematic method of station naming. The lack of knowledge 

of non-US numbers stations was also painfully in evidence 
throughout. The presentation was littered with unsupporte 
bland statements, reminiscent of those burgeoning us 
evangelical broadcasts with their unshakeable dogma, but 
thankfully lacking the ranting! 



Beginning with "It's going to be fun!" and jokingly saying 
they'd swear on the bible that they were not Havana Moon, I 
was put off from the start. However, it was all a salutary 
reminder to avoid at all costs the shallow, 'hobbyist 

approach so dear to the Americans. Much of van Horn s 

contribution was based on D/F intercepts, and not until near 
the very end did the source of these become apparent, when a 

member of the audience asked a question. (The acoustics were 

very poor, and audience response was virtually 
incomprehensible - most frustrating as speakers did not repeat 
these responses) The brief reply to this question, by 
Fulford, was "I've got a buddy at the FCC. He tracks these. 

I’ve got lots of good friends there", which seemed to 

satisfy the enquirer; it certainly doesn't satisfy me. The 

FCC is a US government agency, which officially does not 

recognise numbers stations. These 'buddies' may not be quite 
what they seem; their material may be selectively 

'disinformed'. To obtain an accurate fix on ^station, two, 

preferably three or four, widely spaced OF sites a 
necessary! Several 'buddies' would need to be 
worldwide to supply van Horn et al with material. Van lo, 
refers to the antenna (note the singular) used as a 

' Wol len burger ' , which may be the influence of A " erl ^ a " 
food' at works it is a Wul len weber, a German 
disposed array designed in WWII and first used at 

One of these in USA would be next to useless for DFing 

European stations. 



3 £> 



«s 



The results, for what they are worth, (capriciously presented 
with a reckless confidence) are as follows!' (tr\ ocdcr^ 

\ 

SLHFMs : "all D/Fed to Russia” but! ABEHITVWNX not Russia 

KPA (the only one they could recall): Mossad, from „SS«fael and 

Cyp rus - interesting*. 

KWL90 s closed. US Dept of State (true) Clark AFB ~ volcano 
KWA80; replaced above. At Bangkok. 

8BY: "D/Fed to Indonesia" l*. (A long way from France) 

"Czech YL 5-Digit YL Trumpet & Drum Station... Riyadh, Saudi 
Arabia" 1! It is not Czech but Bulgarian, and the location is 
wrong . 

KWK95: US Dept of State, Cairo Embassy. 

"Get the ambience of what we're doing? I want your mind to 
wander a little bit" (sic - no comment!) 

"English YL 3/2 digit - RAF Cyprus. Lincoln...." (Didn't know 
rest of name! Nor is it a 3/2, but is 5F) 

“Romanian 5-digit Skylark - Romania" (Yes!) 

"English 3/2 digit - S. of Athens" (Poacher, CIA or what?) 
"English 3/2 digit - Isle of Crete" 

"Is there a pattern seen here? Yes, there is!" (I must be 
going blind, for I can't see one). 

"Czech 5-digit YL - replaced by a station, QLX" (GLX is also a 
Czech 5~digit female - this is meaningless!) 

"Up in England around RAF Barford, (comma deliberate) Saint 
John are KRH50 and 51. Not in London... but over at the RAF 
base" (The prefix 'Royal Air Force' is often used as a 
euphemism for designating US military establishments in 
Britain — it is nominal only, and includes a token RAF liaison 
officer to deal with concerns of the local inhabitants. 

C 'natives' in USAF parlance!] Far from being an RAF base, 
Barford St John is a major US HF transmitting site, run by 
USAF, and widely used by CIA. This, and the receivers at 
Croughton are linked by microwave [DEB] and line to the US 
Embassy in London ) . 

"Around London — an English Sdigit Nos Station" (??) 

"English YL Numbers, German 3/2 digit - N. France" (??) 

"DKX - out of Europe" (part of KUL network) 

"German 3/2 - out of Europe” (??) 

"English 5-digit number - German/French border" (??) 

KKN44s "We had a small problem in Liberia ...a revolt, this 
was destroyed with it" (true) 

"English YL 3/2 digit - Recife, Brazil" 

"English YL 5 digit — Cayman Islands" 

"Spanish 5-digit YL - Cuba and Nicaragua" 

"5— digit morse, cut numbers type stuff - Cuba" 

KUC KUL YDU -"Cuba, RTTY type" 

KKN39 St "Spanish YL 4-digit - Jupiter Inlet" (Florida) 

"Spanish YL 4-digit, English YL 3-digit, KKN50 - Warrington, 
Virginia, a secret CIA base comms facility" ( WarreQton ) 

"5-digit morse - Fort Campbell, Kentucky" (the most sweeping 
statement of them all!) 



37 



"Whale Noises on 11267 & 6693 (first mention of freqs so 

far) - 'Hicam' (whatever that is) AT&T - merely feedback ~ 
from Jacksonville and Norfolk military comms facilities 
Vague References to Cutler (Maine) and Diego Garcia in 
connection with Water Dripper - then says it's an OTHR in 
"Nova Scotia neck of the woods, looking for drug-runners" (??) 
"Simon Mason, 'Langley Pierce* and ENIGMA people ve r x — ra r e ix 
hear 5-digit and 4-digit no. stas.in Europe. Gee, I wonder 
why*" (emphasis mine - if this were true we'd have nothing to 
do - almost*) Then he says, "They're heading South!" Oh, 1 
see, he's referring to US no. stations, but it's not clear. 

He goes on to talk of 4,5 & 3/2 being mission specific', and 
mentions US Special Forces as using 5-digit morse, as. they dxd 
from Cayman Just before they invaded Haiti. The preference 
for the higher freqs by the KUL network "smacks of long-haul" 
(it does ) and baud rate and shift "smacks of Russia", and 
concludes that it is a DGI-Russia link. Actually it is more 
than this. 



He ends by emphasising his dedication to cold, hard facts, and 
avoidance of Havana Moon's approach and wild speculations, but 
the value of the research is marred by poor and vague station 
identification, and a lack of independant supporting evidence. 



John Fulford covers various related points in a haphazard 
fashion, and tells us little we don't already know. He 
intriguingly mentions, in connection with US facilities on 
Guam, "ties between religious broadcasters and numbers 
stations" - not as outlandish as it seems. Referring to uS 
numbers, he says 4-digit traffic is "routine", 3/2 traffic 
reflects international events "especially on Mossad 

channels" - they don't use 3/2 so what does he mean? With 5 
digit English, really intriguing things are going on ... 
special forces". 

He finishes by saying that when sending in logs, not to forget 
to include details of language, genoer , no. of digits, U* w 
day of week. We would say that much more is needed in order 
to properly indentify a station, and what about the vast 
majority of activity, which is morse, not voice? Format 
details are absolutely vital. 

* A mysterious "song and dance" station once appeared on top 
of a Numbers Station on 6840kHz, and a member of the audience 
admitted to this, and why not? He had as much right o 
there as the spook 1 . Lastly, a possibly apocryphal tale of 
modern folklore, a report of a PIRATE numbers Ration sending 
the names of Mexican foods in place of digits! My ambition 
to get that one on the menu ...sorry, tape. 

tttttttttttt************************************************** 



E.N.I.G.M.A. Bookshelf 



Mot quite an ENIGMA book review this issue, however, w© did receive 
details of a book via the Internet which ® ay be of interest to 
readers . 

THE HOBBYIST'S GUIDE TO CQMIMT COLLECTION & ANALYSIS 

The Hobbyist's Guide to COMINT Collection & Analysis, written and 
published by Tom Roach, opens some very new territory. COMINT is an 
acronym for communications intelligence- The public's knowledge of 
COMINT is almost totally historical and derives fro® the publication 
of such books as : "The American Black Chamber" a book written by 
Americas 's father of cryptology Herbert Yardley, David Kahn's 
blockbuster "The Codebreakers", and James Bamfords's Puzzle Palace, to 
mention some of the best known books dealing with this arcane subject. 

The Hobbyist's Guide to COMINT Collection and Analysis breaks new 
ground here, since it provides information on how easily the reader 
can collect and analyse COMINT. It turns out this can be done with 
radio receivers and "decoder" boxes which are easily purchased on the 
open market. The book reveals some very interesting Russian messages 
Mr. Roach has received using a shortwave receiver and "decoder" while 
sitting in the comfort of his den. And what a bizarre catch he 
reveals. The messages range In subject matter from the deliberate 
canning of fish tainted by toxic waste, to an "upper air weather" 
message broadcast from a Russian trawler sitting off Yandenberg AFR . 

The Russian vessel was monitoring tests of United States anti-missile 
launches from Yandenberg to Kwajelein. 

The book even includes intercepts, and technical descriptions of four 
distinctly different types of KRIPTOGRAMMA messages. These are 
messages which use special Russian encryption methods (still in use). 
The messages are sent by both Russian trawlers (who catch a lot more 
than fish ! ) and Space Event Support Ships (SESS) . You are even 
instructed in how to learn when, and where, the next Russian ICBM shot 
will impact in the icy waters off the Kamchatka peninsula. You learn 
how to find the proper radio frequency to monitor ship traffic in the 
middle East. As a convenience, the book comes with a spiral metal 
binder so it can lay flat on the desk of the home COMINT collector 
deciphering the latest Russian "20101" messages. Lest you believe only 
the Russians provide material for the hobbyist, the author reveals how 
he intercepted a U.S. military classified message accidentally sent in 
the clear. The techniques discussed in this book can be applied to 
almost any sort of radio traffic. 

The reader is provided examples of various Russian "number" messages, 
which at first glance may appear "encrypted". Mr. Roach gives the 
exact methodology which resulted in one such message's "decryption". A 
whole chapter is is devoted to teaching the uninitiated in how to 
"decipher" similar messages on their own. The means by which the 
Internet can be used to allow hobbyists to share information, get 
translations, and combine intercepts to gain greater insight Is 
described. 



39 



According to tha author, you don't even need to be able to apeak 
Russian to get the basic meaning of the many Russian messages that are 
still being broadcast. Mr. Roach stresses that COHINT , even at this x | 
level, provides a real insight into just what extent, an d ^ ! °^f v 
successfully, “capitalist'' ventures are developing in the^ . new 
Russia. In fact, Mr. Roach has published a second book. Hobbyist s 
C0M1MT Russian Radio-teletype Dictionary, to assist those who actually 
take up the hobby. 

The book breaks new ground in showing how much information can be 
gathered at remarkably small costs by those so inclined. While the 
author believes that this book could be used to encourage youngsters 
to seek a career in such arcane pursuits as radio traffic analysis, 
this may be merely wishful thinking. The book would have benefited 
from some tighter editing, especially the overly long section 
describing how to use CompuServe (an on-line commercial computer 
service) to recover bizarre stories giving details of radio broadcasts 
fro® Iran, Indonesia, Iraq and North Korea. 

Does this book reveal secret methods and classified government data ? 

Is ^“national security" threatened ? The answer to both questions is 
no. Nothing here but common sense and the will to put together openly 
available information. Of course when some Princeton undergrade le had 
the temerity to reveal in a book how to make an atomic weapon, tne 
government tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress the information, wno 
knows what action government s) will take with regard to this book. 

MSA may have good reason to feel threatened when the public finds out 
how much information can be obtained at a cost which is a small 
fraction of what it pays its lowest grade technocrat in a single year 

4 

The HOBBYIST'S GUIDE TO COMIHT COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS is the ideal 
for the would be spook, serious military researcher, and anyone who 
wants to read an amusing and fact filled account of just how aeh 
somebody, given the inclination, can learn from easily intercepted 
radio communications. 

The book is available direct frost the author - 

Cost ; In the United States $24.00 which includes shipping and 
handling via 2 day Priority Mail. 

Outside the United States $28.00 which is via Air Mail. 

Payment via cheque or money order (US dollars only). 

Tom Roach 

1330 Copper Peak Lane 
San Jose, CA 95120-4271 
United States of America 

You can also contact Tom on Internet : troacheix.netcom.com 

or CompuServe : 76347,1025 



My thanks to David in Leeds for sending ENIGMA details of this book 
which appears on Internet. My thanks also to the original poster of 
the information. 



40 



». $ *Jl 



Simon Mason Writes 



Hello again, greetings to everyone around the world. 

Mossad activity has been very unusual in the last six nonths or so, 
especially around the tine of the Israeli Preaier Rabin s 
assassination . 

In th. early autunn. on 12 Septe.ber 1985 HI* obylonsly 

had an important message to send. It all started at 11.00 UIC on tnat 
Stephen on 14750//17170 and 20425 kHz, HIS sent the following 
message : 

11.00 - "MIW" 11-02 - “MESSAGE, MESSAGE, GROUP 12, GROUP 12, TEXT, 
TEXT”, 

DXHVF WSTXS YQHQT ZWJGG WPJHZ BGHHY AN0RL UNAQT ETGVH LYKHH XJMZP 
FDA0L 

11.09 - "END OF MESSAGE, END OF TRANSMISSION, MIS, Mil — 

Note that after the "end” message, it went straight in ^° the "Mil” 
call-up again. This was repeated continuosly until ar^nd 
the above three frequencies were replaced by 6658 kHz, but the same 
message was being sent. The transmission on 6658 kHz continued througn 
the night and at 08.00 on 13 September 1995, 6608 kHz ended and 14750 
started up again followed by 17170//20425 kHz shortly afterward. 
Eventually at 11.00, after sending the same message for 24 hours, nltf 
fell silent and at 11.15 “MIW 2 was sent. 

Don't these number stations ever check their output or scheduling { 
Quite a few instances of stations sending messages on the same 
frequencies have been noted, a regular occurrence is the 03.00 U.COLX 
transmission on 5301 kHz which gets tangled up with a German Counting 
Station on at the same time. 

Bad enough, but don't you think that the German 2 -Letter s ^ion 
"SIERRA BRAVO” on 11545 kHz at 22.30 recently could have done without 
not only LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER station, but its unwelcome warble jammer 
as well ? 



Sneaking of the 2- Letter stations, I am currently well into a year 
long study of the frequency schedule of the 23.30 UTC transmissions, 
namely SIERRA BRAVO and HOTEL KILO. During the three months shown, 
there has been no change in scheduling, but as higher frequencies have 
been noted during the Spring and Summer, it is expected that changes 
will occur soon. 

MON TUE WED THU FSI SAT SUN 
HK 7532 6853 7532 7532 6853 7532 7532 Period of NOV DEC 95 

SB 9450 9325 9040 8173 8063 7858 7752 and JAN 96 



4 -( 



Wohw how the SIERRA BRAVO frequencies 
while HOTEL KILO alternates between 
should be interesting- 'jga wm> 



fa.ll by atm channel every day, 
just two. The Summer schedule 



Back to the KOSSAD transmissions . After the assassination, CIO and VLB 
began to send lots of "string" Messages over a period of a few days as 
shown here. 



DATE 


TIME 


FREQUENCY 


CALL 


MESSAGE 


8.11 


13.45 


10352 


CIO 


CI012L36P15Z46 Any new ideas on 




18.45 


4165 


CIO 


CIOl what these strings 


9.11 


00.45 


4165 


CIO 


CI036F13P36R55 are ? 




16.45 


4165 


CIO 


CI026P14T12R38L54 


15.11 


16.45 


4165 


CIO 


CI011Z22T8F54R29 


8.11 


13.45 


12950 


VLB 


VLB38P22Z 15R46 Comments always 




18.30 


5230 


VLB 


VLB26B14D39 welcome. 




22.45 


5230 


VLB 


VLB12A24G36P43 


CD 

M 


10.45 


12950 


VLB 


VLB28P 14Z 36B54T20 




12.45 


12950 


VLB 


VLB22P28L44B33Z 16 




17.45 


5230 


VLB 


VLB29T16L55P16 


10.11 


21.45 


5230 


VLB 


VLB36P12 


11.11 


02.45 


5230 


VLB 


VLB16R 




13.45 


12950 


VLB 


VLB 55P 1 2T34L6 2 


Since 


then, there has not 


been 


anything like this level of activity 


and VLB2 and CI02 are sent 


Host 


of the time. 



Unusual transmissions in C.Sf. have been heard now and again on 3915 
kHz. On one occasion a station was sending its callsign (MZ6G) between 
20.00 and 20.10. It then sent a any 5F groups and recently on the same 
frequency, another similar callsign ( SZCZ ) was heard. On botxs 
occasions the BBC Singapore relay came on air at 21.30 on the same 
frequency. op aasx v coa'vj»(«~'>c J 



Regular transmissions by the YL/SS who signs off with 00000 (V8) have 
been noted on Wednesday A Thursday at 13.00 with a call-up of 105. 

For example. 



FREQUENCY 


CALL 


DECODE 


GROUP COURT 


MESSAGE 


BHD 


12210 Calls for 
14940 5 Minutes 


105 

105 


468 x2 
946 x2 


40 x2 
123 x2 




5F 

5F 


PAIRS 

PAIRS 


ooooo 

00000 


Ends with repeat 


of decode key 


and group 


count 


twice 


& 00000. 




Signal strengths 


have 


been very high. 


Hot 


noted 


so often during 



winter. 



42 . 



Here are the current schedules of Spanish language "Afcaricion+PinaXe 
stations (V2) as received from To® in the United States, 



18 



TIME 

00.00 

01.00 

02.00 


SUN 


MON 


03.00 


7687 


6826 


04.00 




5762 


05.00 




4028 


06.00 

07.00 


6785 


7890 


08.00 

09.00 


7887 


7527 


10.00 

11.00 




4028 


And for C.W. 


Transmissions (M 


00.00 

01.00 


SUN 


MON 


02.00 


4028 


4017 


03.00 


4028 


4017 


04.00 

05.00 




7682 


06.00 

07.00 

08.00 

09.00 

10 . 00 




5810 


11.00 




8066 



TUE 


WED 


THU 


FRI 


SAT 






5419 


6683 




9140 

6867 


6826 


6797 


7887 


4028 




7861 


10345 


4028 








6797 


6797 






8186 


4028 


7887 




8010 


6800 


6797 


6797 








6797 






4028 




4027 






8). - 


. - • • 






-- - 


TUE 


WED 


THU 


FRI 


SAT 




5118 




5417 




4017 


4328 


4017 


5087 


4017 


4028 


5417 








6797 


7520 


6854 






7890 


8066 


5800 







6785 

8826 

4480 4174 



Thanks again to Tom for these schedules, I have personally heard most 
of the voice broadcasts between 01.00 - 04.00 with quite good 
reception. For additional schedules for Y2/M 8 see elsewhere in this 
issue. 

Finally, I noticed a piece in the January 1996 issue of the U.S. 
magazine Popular Communications . I also noted that ENIGMA reader Ary 
in The Netherlands had heard this station. 



Reports of GALIK ZAHAL, the Israeli Defence Forces Radio, which 
normally broadcasts over its own network of AM and FH stations. It is 
being relayed on shortwave over some sort of utility- type transmitter, 
(one report says it is VLB near Tel Aviv). 

The broadcast is said to be the network's traffic information service, 
consisting mostly of music. It seems it is best heard around 00.00 on 
8127 kHz USB, although other reports show it active as early as 17.50 
and as late as 06.00. 

If you catch it and want to send a reception report, the address is : 
MILITARY POST OFFICE BOX 01005, ISRAEL (no city). Despite rumours that 
this is a spurious or accidental transmission, 'Popular 
Communications' understand the transmissions are intentional, although 
a QSL Card from Galei Zahal received by Ed Rausch in New Jersey USA 
had a penned note on the back which said "We don't transmit on 8127 
kHz" - but that's where they are ! Good' Listening, Simon. 



43 



> 



HELP PAGE! 



Wwlctmw nltmg to muoth&r help page* w& must apologise for the slight 
delaying in sending out this issue. Me hope however that the contents 
will make up for this „ Unfortunately only two people collate word 
process , print and post out ENIGMA and with the amount of information 
contained in each issue this is quite a big task. Me 
important to provide accurate and detailed information and to this end 
we hope you will not mind a slightly more flexible approach to the 
issue date. 



HAVANA NOON. Just as we were going to press I received word from sen 
in Doncaster that the ‘‘famous* Aster i can Numbers monitor Havana Noon had 
died. I don 't have the full story yet (store details will appear in 
issue 11) but understand that Havana Moon was in fact a william i- 
Godbey who claimed to be a former U.S. intelligence officer. He was a 
regular contributor to Nonitoring Times and also wrote several books 
on the subject of Number Stations. 



LANGLEY PIERCE - INTERCEPTING NUMBER STATIONS. I recently heard from a 
reader in Lancashire who told me that the above mentioned book was no 
longer available. I have since spoken to Interproducts , the publisher 
who inform me that a new updated edition will be available in June 
this year. 

The cost will remain the same as the first edition. Me have still had 
no word from Nr ‘’Langley Pierce ”. Me mentioned this in our last issue. 
Is Nr Pierce a real person ? Is he more than one person^ (a sort or 
collective?) Does he read ENIGMA? Mill he have changes any 01 his 
views or indeed used some of our readers' suggestions about Number 
Stations in his new updated book. Me shall have to wait and see. 



Of course , we must always 
unsolicited infiltration . 



be 



aware 



of disinformation agents and 



EXTINCT STATIONS - Information is still very much needled on the 
following easily remembered but inadequately recorded, numbers 
stations : Aida (SI), Piano Piece (S/O- music uniden 

Music Station (Gl) and the Jazz Player (G9 - music a f lden * lfl J^ v } 8 th 
there anybody out there who can identify the language used by V 8, the 

new Oriental Music station? 



Me are still seeking information from readers of their earliest 
in order to ascertain when stations commenced operation. 
in formation is required on ALL stations in order build up 
picture of number station backgrounds. 



logs 

This 

full 



44 




> V 



Letters to\E.NJ.G.M.A. 



A very KErs ^sIcoeo to xssuo 10. Thanks to ail our toadars who Hava 
taken tine to write in. Our first letter this time round is fro® Chris 
in Reistertown USA, Chris says 'I have a page on the Internet/World 
Wide Web devoted to Humber Stations. The address' is http ://wm. 
aecess . d igex . raet/~cps/ numbers . htssl ' . 

On the subject of Internet we received a message from an organisation 
called Intelligence Online, they started up in 1980 and produce a 
newsletter 23 times per year. The current subscription price is $315 
per year for the email version or $350 for a combined email & hard 
copy version. They can be contacted at Intel— Info <aims@ext. jussieu.fr> 
or if you are like sue and still on the hard shoulder of the 
information super-highway, ADI, 16 rue des Ecoles, 75005, Paris, 
France. 

In the last issue, Geoff in Norfolk asked if we were aware of any 
cassettes which would help in the identification of the many modes 
used on SW. Yves in Luxemburg wrote to tell us about a C90 cassette 
which has examples of CW , FAX , RTTY , SITOR , ARQ , FEC etc. the cassette is 
called "Test Und Demonstrations” and costs DM19,80. Available froia 
Siebel Verlag, Auf De® Steinbuchel 61AD, D-5334Q Heckenheim, Germany. 

How a letter from Keith in Kent. He heard about ENIGMA after reading 
John Griffiths article “Radio by Numbers” in the January issue of SW 
Magazine. Keith writes that, between 1944-1947, He was a member of the 
Radio Security Service, actively engaged on interception at several 
sites in this country and latterly at the discrimination HQ, then at 
Eastcote. He was invited to move to Cheltenham but declined because 
"at the time pay and conditions were awful". Being unable, to find work 
elsewhere, he rejoined the organisation at Knockholt in Kent then 
known as F.O.R.D.E. (Foreign Office Research and Development 

Establishment) and was employed exclusively on non-morse reception. He. 
later moved to Lydd HF/DF unit until leaving full-time employment in 
1954. He was invited to join a reserve unit then being established but 
"that is another story”. 

"Even at that time traffic was almost exclusively in five-figure code 
and some messages were extremely long ! Many of the important Russian 
stations sent an R between every tenth group* . At Lydd DF. we were able 
to track many of these stations which operated world-wide” . 

Keith tells us that he has recently retired and decided to write a 
book on life in the RSS and the service Y groups in WW2. "My research 
has been going on for almost nine months and I have acquired many 
articles fro* people who, like me, would like their efforts in finding 
the traffic for Bletchley Park to be formally recognised. One of their 
ex— boffins has encouraged me to put pen to paper and I am wondering 
whether there are any members of ENIGMA who would be interested in 
contributing a chapter, covering both the technical and also the 
personal side of life in the 1940 's". 

If you would like to contact Keith, please send your letters to us 
(Mike & Chris) at the ENIGMA office and we will pass them onto him. 

He can then contact you direct. 

(* presumably these were morse messages) - Ed. 



45 



Thank you to all our readers who responded to our enquiry concerning: 
the methods used by agents to return messages to their masters. While 
you will have read much in EMIGMA about messages going out, little is 
ever said about how agents get in touch with the HQ. 

Our first letter comes from Brian in Sussex England. He starts by 
saying that his thoughts are purely speculative, and are largely based 
on what he has read on the subject, but this is how I understand the 
system to work : 

"The agent, (or perhaps more correctly - illegal, since he is likely 
to be using a false nationality and identity), will receive coded 
messages directly from his country via radio. These messages are sent 
openly over the short-wave, knowing that although it is a simple 
matter to trace the origin of the transmissions, (If you are a 
government that is ! ! ), there is no way that the recipient of the 
messages can be traced. Messages are usually timed to correspond with 
late evening or early morning in the agent's location, which enables 
him to listen regularly to the messages without interfering with his 
normal routine, which would arouse suspicion. 

Every step must be taken to ensure that the identity of the agent 
remains secret. He is likely to have contact with just one other 
person who will act as a go-between for the information and messages 
he passes back. Contact will be kept to an absolute minimum. Vassal! 
made a chalk mark on a certain tree when he had information to pass to 
his controller, w : fip Would then contact him. 

Often, a dead-letter box will be used, which may be a hollow tree or a 
waste paper bin or similar, where packages are left and collected, 
with no physical contact made at all. Messages can be reduced to 
microdots and concealed in books, letters and under postage stamps on 
envelopes. The Krogers used an antiquarian "book mail order business as 
a cover. Again, the emphasis is on security - should any of these 
items be discovered on route, they would hot be traceable back to the 
agents. Although a transmitter was discovered under the floor of the 
Krogers bungalow, it was very well concealed, and likely to have been 
there purely in case of emergency. (incidentally, another concealed 
transmitter was dug up in the garden 20 years later l ) . 

Direct and repeated use of a transmitter is extremely risky, and would 
quickly result in the detection and arrest of the agent. The direction 
finding abilities of the authorities are extremely efficient. 

So I would say that direct transmissions by radio would not be used, 
except in exceptional circumstances. Having said that, there are some 
ways in which it could be used. One would be the use of high speed 
burst transmissions and the other could be via apparently innocent 
amateur radio contacts. I believe that the high speed burst method was 
used, perhaps in the 50 's and 60 's, but I think that the technology 
available today would make even this method detectable" . 

Following on from Brian's comments our regular contributor 'D' takes 
up the case : "It depends how urgently the Centre needs the 
information or how soon its value decreases and so a squirt 
transmitter would be supplied, remember the Krogers in England and 
Sabotka in Canada ? 






This decision is done on a case by case basis. These would probably be 
used where the EIS do not have illegals or an embassy near the agent 
or the person is too valuable to risk contacting personally. It also 
serves to boost the ego of the agent because they have direct contact 
with their bosses and limits the number of people who deal with them. 



Transmissions by illegals would probably only be done in peacetime 
once a year for testing that the set still works and used regularly in 
wartime if there was a diplomatic break and embassy staff were 
withdrawn from a target country. Their particular use would be for the 
illegal resident to maintain contact with the Centre. They are also 
used by sabotage units which could be activated or infiltrated in 
wartime. A squirt set was dug up in the early 80 's in North Wales * 
you might remember and William Hood describes a similar incident in 
Austria in his book "Mole". 



I suspect the Services of other countries ie. not US or Russia use 
radio a lot more because their representation in certain countries 
might be far more limited and so communications are far more 
difficult, particularly in denied areas of the world eg. China and 
Iran. Their tradeeraft might also lack sophistication and could be 
compromised. The countries they operate against may also not have 
advanced radio direction finding systems which would be required to 
detect such communications. Squirt sets usually have an ant x-hand ling 
device and will blow up If they are tampered with. The RIS favoured 
the use of the postal systems or dead letter boxes for communications 
rather than risking compromising somebody by radio broadcasts being 
detected. The use of transmitters tended to be a bit melodramatic 
anyway and posed majors problems if a set broke down because their 
sole communications link was cut. 

Their presence also helps to condemn as it did with the Krogers or 
could be used to convey disinformation as in the Double-cross system or 
the Germans with Engiandspiel in WW2. 

The West considered giving Penkovsky a transmitter where he could put 
information in code onto a tape and then transmit it close to an 
embassy to avoid meeting him- This was to counter the hostile 
surveillance environment in the USSR. The aerial would have gone down 
his trouser leg and would be received on a receiver in the US embassy 
after the squirt had been made. This information could then be passed 
back to HQ. They decided against it because its presence if discovered 
in a routine search could have compromised him and it would be 
difficult to get it to him. The amount of data which could have been 
transmitted was also very limited and the material was not suitable 
for transmission eg. circuit diagrams. 

* Can any readers remember the transmitter which was dug up in North 
Wales, I (Chris) remember that the story made the daily newspapers, 
does anyone have the clipping or other details ? Pleas® write in. 

In early January 1998 we received a letter from London, interesting 
information concerning a certain Numbers Station were detailed, we are 
reproducing the letter in full on the next page. 



47 



Referring to your article entitled : ’* Radio by Numbers " (John 

Griffiths) that appeared in this month's (January 1998) Shortwave 

Magazine, I an able to shed a little light upon on the YANKEE HOTEL 
FOXTROT (E1Q ) type of fenale voice signals whiclig^g be nonitored on 
several H/F frequencies, nost notably from the Middle East, since they 
are of Israeli origin . 

The female voice in question carries Hebrew intonation and in fact the 
same one has been used for at least the past twenty five years, * 
which probably implies that the original speaker could well be a 

grandmother by now. 

Blind transmissions, broadcast simultaneously on two well spaced 
frequencies, are directed to field personnel who mainly operate in 
neighbouring countries. Dummy messages are also transmitted to 
’'phantom" operatives. Messages may indeed be received by "traitors" 

who rarely see themselves as such, or by Israeli or third country 

nationals to whom this description does not apply. 

Call-signs suffixed with the numeral, TWO, confirm reception of an 
incoming message, which on H/F will have been transmitted with a toy 
transmitter in brief burst morse. 

The field transmitter's input into a (house/telephone cabling) or 
shorted television antenna lead, is typically only ten watts. High 
gain antennas, diversity reception and quality receiving equipment 
process the weak signals which are then usually automatically 
decrypted. 

Encryption is accomplished with one time pads or signxf icantly 
enhanced basic alphabet shift transpositioning, the code book being 
any commonly held publication. 

* More like 20 years (Ed), these were certainly not around in 1970-2 
as far as I'm aware. Comments welcome. 

Our sincere thanks to John Griffiths & and also Any Cadier at Short 
Wave Magazine for your support of ENIGMA . 

Now a letter from the United States and greetings to Steven Aftergood, 
Steven produces a Newsletter entitled Secrecy & Government Bulletin. 
Published by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a 50 year 
old public interest organisation of natural and social scientists 
concerned with issues of science and society. The FAS Project on 
Government Secrecy is supported by grants from the HKH Foundation and 
the CS Fund. Back issues are available at the FAS secrecy homepage at 
<http://www.fas.org/pub/gen/fas/sgp/> - Or for more information write 
to : Steven Aftergood (FAS) 307 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E. Washington. 
D.C. 20002. USA. 

My thanks to all our regular contributors for all your letters logs 
and information, I'm sorry if we are not always able to mention 
every-one who writes in, but rest assured we collate all the logs we 
receive for our Station News sections and retain all correspondance 
for use in features and articles. 



> 



Thanks* to the following for mentioning EMISM& and also to those 
members who have written to broadcasters to tell them about the group. 
Radio Bulgaria carried a feature on Humber Stations and told the 
truth, no stories about weather broadcasts, also Radioropa the German 
private station carried a feature. My thanks also to^ the BBC 
Monitoring Station & the also the Science Museum in London for 
recommending EHIGMA to enquires. 

How onto the question from issue 9 of EHIGMA. "Is it legal to listen 
to Humber Stations ?" A reader in Britain writes. 

"I am sure you are aware of the situation that has developed with the 
popularity of scanners among 'non-enthusiasts’. Here is the position 
as I see it. It is undoubtedly illegal to listen to such stations in 
the UK, since the only legal listening one can indulge in is Licensed 
Broadcast stations; Licensed Amateur Stations and the odd one or two 
utility broadcasts which are intended for public use. (Some weather 
transmissions etc). 

However, although technically it is just as much an offence to listen 
to your local airport as is to listen to your local police station, 
you will find in practice that openly listening to aircraft will cause 
you no problems at all, while openly listening to you local police 
will likely result in your arrest and subsequent appearance in the 
local magistrates' court, with a hefty fine. 

Part of my hobby involves utility listening, and most stations outside 
the UK are not only happy to receive reception reports, they 
positively encourage it. (Mote the QSL from OLX). In my collection are 
cards and letters from government stations all over the world, 
including French Air Force, Danish Havy and the US Diplomatic Service. 
However, with stations operating within the UK, this is generally 
positively discouraged and could result In interest being taken from 
certain quarters including possible prosecution. 

While it is technically illegal to listen to number stations, any 
prosecution would have to contain evidence concerning the illegality 
of the transmissions you are being prosecuted for listening to. in 
other words, they would have to prove in court that the station you 
were listening to was not a licensed station. I for one would be quite 
happy to stand in court and hear such revelations from the DTI as to 
the nature and location of the number transmission, bat I somehow 
think it extremely unlikely that they would ever put themselves in 
this position. 

Only in the unlikely event that EHIGMA were to publish details about 
the security services or (associated sites) which could be construed 
as breaching the Official Secrets Act, (another diplomatic minefield 
!)* is it likely that anyone would fall foul of the authorities. Far 
more likely, should we be getting just a little too close for comfort, 
would be a visit or a letter from an official, with a friendly 
warning" . 

A reader in Germany also wrote : "It is important to listen to these 

stations because the operators (secret services) want to keep them 
hidden in the dark and because they prefer to say nothing about the 
existence of sueh broadcasts. While pirate radio stations are often 
raided, the governments try to keep their own completely illegal spy 
stations on the air. 






Th© numbers atationn also cane© a lot aors interference than the asm 11 
pirates. To watch the illegal operations that are protected by 
governmenfcbJLs the task of the number stations monitors" . 

Me would still like to hear more from readers on this subject, I know 
from letters I have received that some readers are afraid to 
contribute to ENIGMA- Please let us have your comments on the opinions 
we have published so far. Thanks. 

A few more quick hellos. First to Daniel in Switzerland - thanks for 
the photo-card. Daniel has sent a feature about ENIGMA to the German 
publication Radio Horen. Greetings also to Jonathan in Harare, 
Zimbabwe. Jonathan is 24 years of age and as been a SW listener for 8 
years. He says it is difficult to find reference material on SXGINT A 
ELXNT etc but has managed to build up a collection of 7 books. He also 
says that he is able to hear Alpha-Phonetic stations (E10) such as CIO 
& YHF - 

Alexander writes from Delft in The Netherlands and asks about his 
suggestion concerning an electronic version of ENIGMA. Me are sorry to 
say that an electronic version of ENIGMA would be unlikely at present, 
Alexander is interested in exchanging logs and topics of interest 
between issues of the newsletter and he can be contacted at - 

a. koutamanls 0bk.tudelft.nl (Alexander Koutamanis) 0 INET . 
Alexander did say that he was unhappy with his own summary of ENIGMA 
which he felt looked too much like our own World Wide Web pages. 

Dave in Preston England sent us some further details about our 
investigations into Radio North Sea International- Has a side Issue 
Dave asks if any of our readers have construction details of log- 
periodic beams 50 Mhz -1000 Mh z. If you have please send them in and 
we will forward them to Dave. 

We are still looking for background on RNX and the alleged number 
transmissions . 

Over now to Andreas in Germany. Thank you for your letter and logs. He 
starts with comments about the numbers heard in CW via satellite. 
Andreas says there is an international code for weather broadcasts and 
signals always end with NMNN . Me agree with your comments that there 
are better technologies for sending such information. 

Andreas also comments on the theory that Lincolnshire Poacher uses 
message breaks such as 00004 & O9O00, there are 46 different 5F groups 
with four Os (once 00000 and then 9 different numbers can be on 5 
different places ; 9*5+1=46). Overall, there exists 10 5F groups <10 
possibilities for each digit)- Every day, the Poacher sends 9 
different messages, that means 9*200=1800 groups out of 100000. With 
random delivered groups, the number of potential stops (four 0 s) out 
of 46 equals the 1800/100000 : 

x/46 = 1800/100000 
x = 1800*46/100000 
x = 0.828 

That means that per day on average 0.828 groups are sent. Per message 
period (starting every 1st and 15th of the month) different numbers of 
messages are sent ; let's take 11, which is low : 

y= 1 1*200*46/ 100000 = 1.012 



So 



8a in one meseage period one such group must;, occur or it, s ^ery 
likely that on average one will occur, even with only 11 messages, 
which is the lowest figure I've monitored in a complete period. 

The highest number of messages was 18 : 

2-18*20046/100000-1.656 

So to judge our previous theory from a reader in Cheshire we would need 
more exact material * 

Andreas has continued his extensive monitoring of Lincolnshire Poacher 
and reports that although changes have taken place between Sumner and 
Min ter frequencies this has not occurred in all groups - He only noted 
changes in E and J. All the others stayed the same - although some 
frequencies were inaudible due to poor propagation. Both K & 1 changed 
to higher frequencies - perhaps their targets are in the southern 
hemisphere. From 10.00 to 13.45 every day the station has been using 
16084//15682// 14487 . In the evenings the higher frequencies were not 
heard often, again probably due to conditions. Some groups such as A & 

I do not change frequencies much during the week. 

The message period starting October 1st was the one when the Poacher 
was most active. 10 different headers occurred ! Maximum number of 
headers were G with 6, 0 with 3 and I with 3. most other headers had 
just two messages, but had three messages in the period September 15th 
to October 1st . 

Having started listening to LP in December 1934 it seems that traffic 
is very stable and on a low level at the present time. Since November 
1st only one message has been sent to each header in the 15 day period 
staying at 11 messages per period ~ this follows that busy period in 
autumn . 

In issue 8 we reviewed 'By Way of Deception' - Victor Ostrovsky, 
Andreas writes to say that the book also appeared in the German 
language. The title is "Der Mossad" by Victor Ostrovsky A Claire Hoy 
and is published by "Knaur” in 1992, the ISBN is 3—428— 77022—9 * and it 
costs DM 14.90. 

Mike in Kent sent us an interesting E-Mail posting collated by Brian 
Kelk. The information shows all the Phonetic Alphabets which are in 
general use and includes everything from German to Chinese. English 
versions include the one used by the Alpha— Phonetic network (E10) and 
is identified as the NATO phonetic alphabet. This is shown as approved 
by the Civil Aviation Organisation & FAA and is listed by the 
International Telecommunications Union and dates fro® 1956. 

The more obscure alphabet used by the Nancy Adam Susan family (E15) is 
also listed and is shown to originate from 1948. The alphabet is 
identified as the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) version. 

I copied down a message from NBA- the code used is not random and was 
sent as ZWMD? Z0ZCZ ZRVZY ZXFAF 0THRZ Z?YRY ZZBRY ZZLXZ XRQYT YTHFA. 
All those Z's ! Have any other readers copied messages from (BI5) ? 

That's all for this time around. Sincere thanks to everyone. Please 
keep in touch and good listening. 



SI 




Things That Go Buzz In The Night 



Once again a warm welcome to oar "Things that go Buzz section. 1 hanks 
as always for all the contributions. 

THB BUZZER 4625 Ml. In the last issue we mentioned that the Buzzer may 
be coming fro® an area near the town of Penza in Russia. Andreas m 
Germany wrote to tell me about an organisation which is producing a 
document called the Transmitter Documentation Project, Showing 
broadcast sites. 

A copy is available from Ludo Maes, P.O.Box 1, B--2310, Ri j Reverse 1 , 
Belgium. The cost is £5.00, $7.00, 10 DM or 7 IRC's. 

Ludo states that transmitters near Penza are in fact at Zelenaya 
Roshcha, the exact location is at 44.01°H and 54.08*H. There are f°«r 
60kW- transmitters, one 80R¥ unit which was active in SSB and is ofr 
air at the moment and one lOkM transmitter. The 60/80 kW transmitters 
were erected in the 1880s, no information about the 10 RW unit is 
available. The four SGkW are sometimes combined to 240 k¥ to carry 
broadcasts like the Russian “Mayak" programme. Perhaps there are also 
more transmitters in use at this site - maybe even the BU2ZBR l 

The BUZZER is still making strange noises at just before the hour, 
although as Brian in West Sussex comments its time lines are somewhat 
erratic, it is certainly no time signal and was recently notea 
changing its tone at 3-1/2 minutes before the hour. 

Mike in Kent also mentions the BUZZER, "I ' ve spent quite a few hours 
on this signal, the BUZZER doesn't appear to be sending any 
'information' and the change just before the hour is always the same 
and appears to be only the addition of another tone to the normal one 
resulting in a sort of warble. I've tried all the usual modes to look 
for any anomalies ie AM, USB, LSB, DSB, FH, FSK and fed the audio into 
my computer decoders but no results. It is a pure and simple 
propagation marker of sorts with no information content" . 



THE BUZZ - Sot quite the same as the above signal the Buzz is the sort 
of thing which you would easily tune right past. It sounds more like 
the sound of local interference or perhaps something generated 
internally in a receiver, bnt w© have cheeked out the signal fro® 
various locations and it is well received over a large area. Don t 
expect too much, all you are likely to hear is a buzzing sound, 
although we have had reports of some white noise bursts. 

Try 6695 7545 7575 8855 11230 & 10105 the signal can sometimes b© 
heard on up to 3 simulcast frequencies. Comments as always welcome. 
Suggest you try at different times until successful. 

THE PIP - Still active on 3757 & occasionally 5450 kHz. I recently 
heard 2 Radio Amateurs on 3757 referring to that 'bleeping thing 'which 
was causing them a few problems. Any new ideas on this un— exciting 
Pippng noise. 



5Z 



• f I - 



THE ECHO - The excitement never ends, after soae tine spent missing 
from our column the ECHO has now been found alive and well on 3878 
kHz, although \t is under a heavy facsimile signal much or the time. 
The ECHO signajmtn be heard from early evening onward. It xs another 
of those fairly pointless signals consisting of nothing more than a 
bleep every 4 seconds. 

Previous frequencies have included 4080 4119 & 4382 kHz. It will be 

interesting to see if it returns to any of these later in the year. I 
have never heard it on more than one frequency at a time, which 
perhaps suggests only one transmitter is in operation. Any coma en b> 

welcome. 



FADKRS (XF) - Despite ay 'double page spread' in issue 8 I have had no 
new information. Please have a look at this again if you have issue 9 
handy and when you have spare minute give them a listen. I am still 
very keen to have feed back on these peculiar signals . 1 dxd receive 
logs fro© Brian in Sussex and Richard who commented that the signals 
are very common . 



THE CRACKLE - This is still around and can be heard in the evening 
time in Europe on 5500/5505. I have also noted it on 6586 and S2z3 
kHz. One reader described it as like 'someone dragging a load of old 
tin cans along the floor'. At times the 5 Hhz frequency clocks out 
Shannon Volmet on 5505. 



THE CLICKER - Another seemingly pointless transmission. One reader 
described this as the 'dashless morse station'. The one and only thing 
it ever does is send a random clicking sound. The frequency usage 
seems random but I have noted it with a carrier on 3905 kHz in the 
evenings . 



LGt? HUM - This is on air quite often or 4622 kHz. Have you heard it ? 
The signal consists of nothing more than a low humming noise. Try 
evenings. 



HAARP <HF ACTIVE AURORAL RADIO PROGRAM) 

Has anyone any information on this US military operation in Alaska? 
Apparently a high power HF transmitting station has recently been 
built whose purpose is to modify' ionospheric conditions to the 
advantage of US forces during any military conflict. The aerial 
system is complex, and consists of numerous masts arranged in a grid 
configuration, and covering an area of 150 acres (a third of the 
proposed area). It is believed that transmissions began late last 
year. Does anybody know what sort of mode is employed or the 
frequencies used? 



53 



The Three Note Oddity (&-*-) 



Well, Fm sitting here a rattier disappointed maa This was going to be a substantial feature on 
the station, but alas and as is so often the case with writing these articles, no sooner has one 
decided to write one, when the station concerned assumes a radical change of habit! 

In just this way, one of the most enigmatic of numbers stations, the Three Note Oddity, has 
suffered a drastic change. In over three years of monitoring the station, there had been some 
sporadic changes to its operation, but at the end of 1995, the whole schedule appears to have 
been overhauled with only two known, regular slots now in use. But enough of the lamenting 
of lost friends and on with the good news. - * - ^ 

Location 

We can exclusively reveal that this station transmits from a site just outside of Budapest in 
Hungary. Therefore, we can probably assume that the station is run by the Hungarian 
Intelligence Service, of which little is known. However, it is known that the British MI6 has 
trained Hungarian secret service personnel since 1990, and that the organisation has close links 
with the German BND and the US CIA, both of whom have been resident in Budapest since 
1992. 

As you will sm see from the list of known transmissions on a following page, the Three Note 
Oddity had a number of long-running schedules with some interesting common themes. You 
will see that the Sunday transmissions at 1310 and 2210, and that of Saturday at 2110 all 
exhibited a yearly cycle of frequency use. However, all these transmissions appear to have 
ceased operation at the beginning of 1996. The only remaining, known schedule is that of 
Sunday at 2105, and its repeat 35 minutes later, at 2140. You will notice that in this case, the 
later transmission is always 100kHz lower than the earlier. 

Despite such a dramatic down-tum in activity, I remain confident that there are new 
transmissions, but finding them will be a difficult job. The station has an uncanny knack of 
remaining hidden by virtue of some unusual combinations of time, day and frequency. More 
often than not over the past few years, new schedules have come to light only by chance and 
I'm sure that this will continue to be the case. 

It is interesting to note that the Three Note Oddity has been operating since at least 1988 and 
features in both Simon Mason's “Euronumbers" and Langley Pierce's “Intercepting Numbers 
Stations" books. However, and to illustrate my earlier observations on this station’s complex 
schedule, none of the frequencies quoted by those authors appear in my list Adding this 
information to that I have gathered, it seems likely that schedules are active for about 3 years 
before being changed 

Characteristics 

Schedule 

Most, if not all transmissions follow the same basic pattern, in that the same message is 
broadcast on the same frequency, at the same time, on the same day of each week for a month. 
The next month, the station changes frequency and sends a different message, which is again 
repeated each week. Messages are usually also rebroadcast on a different frequency and at a 
different time or day. For example, Sunday 2210 was a rebroadcast of the message sent at 
1310 on that day. 






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The station obeys Central European Time (GET = UTC+1), which means that some 
transmissions in March and October arc one hour later than expected in the UK. This is 
because the switch-over to Daylight Saving Time is often not synchronised throughout Europe. 
Please note that all times quoted in the schedules and this article are UK Irocal Time. 

Message Format 

The statical has a distinctive call-up consisting of 5 minutes of a repeated three note rising 
scale. The tones used to be pure, but during Autumn 1995 changed to a harsh, almost buzzed 
note. At the end of the initial 5 minute period, a female announcer calls “ Achtung, Achtung” 
and then proceeds to read anything up to 50 groups of 5 digits, each group being repeated. The 
complete message is then repealed after another “Achtung, Achtung” before the transmission 
ends with “Ende, Ende” 

Pronunciation of numbers is standard “radio German” as follows: 

Bins 2= Zwo 3= Drei 4= Vier 5= Furrnef 

6= Sechs 1~ Sieben 8-Acht 9=Neun O^Nul 1 

The AM transmitter used is of good quality, stable and always spot on frequency. Sometimes 
either the upper or lower sideband of the transmitter is suppressed. Although die messages are 
often sent at very low volume, there appear to have been no other mistakes by its operators 
over the three years that I have monitored the station. The station usually comes on-frequency 
some 1015 minutes before the scheduled time and tunes-up with a steady 1kHz tone followed 
by a few 5F groups as the tape machine/speech synthesiser is adjusted. At the end of the 
broadcast, the transmitter is swiftly turned off. 

Some frequencies that have been used were deep in the European shortwave broadcast bands 
which almost certainly indicates a very limited coverage, perhaps only to countries bordering 
Hungary. 

Message Content 

Living up to its name, the messages sent by this station appear to be anything but random. A 
number of 5F groups appear across all messages, and is not uncommon to see a particular 5F 
group appearing three or four times in the same message. As yet though, there appears to be 
no indication of the meaning of these groups, or any other patterns in messages. It has been 
noted that a certain number of groups appear regularly within the first 5 groups of messages, 
and that these arc perhaps destination or priority indicators. Message lengths can be anywhere 
between 21 and 50 groups (Note that the station gives no group count as part of its message 
format). 

Continuing the Search 

At the time of writing this article, all transmissions except Sunday 2105 and 2140 have been 
abandoned, or have moved to other days, times and frequencies. If you do hear the station, 
please contact me via die ENIGMA offices, I will delighted to hear from you! 

My thanks go to “Deep Throat” for arranging a DF of the station in late 1995. 

73, Mike (e-mail: mikec@praxis.co.uk) 



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3N0TEFRQ 






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